YORKTOWN, Texas-The U.S. Coast Guard called off the search for missing oil rig workers and started calling families affected by Tuesday s explosion off the coast of Louisiana.
U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry says the decision was a tough one to make.
We suspended the search and rescue effort last night after notifying the families of the 11 workers and our thoughts and prayers go out to these families today, she said.
One mother who got the dreaded call lives in Yorktown, Texas near Victoria.
Her son, Adam Weise, was one of the 11 workers who went missing after the blast.
Weise s hometown was crushed by the news.Since Tuesday, they have been holding out hope that, somehow, Weise survived the explosion on the oil rig, but those hopes are fading.
Just come home, you know.Stay strong for us because we re staying strong for you, said one of his many friends, Ethan Sanchez. A return home would be nice.
But Weise hasn t been seen or heard from since the blast.
For days, crews searched the Gulf of Mexico for survivors and Weise s friends and family held out hope. News of that dreaded phone call hit the town hard says Mayor Rene Hernandez.
Naturally, everyone is devastated, he said.
Weise was a hometown favorite on the football field in high school.He went to Louisiana to work on the oil rig shortly after graduation in 2005, and was always welcomed back home.
I don t think there was a house in Yorktown that this young man wouldn t be welcomed in, said Mayor Hernandez.
That is why hundreds showed up for a prayer vigil in honor of the former football star, now missing rig worker.
Weise s mom told a local paper that not having her son s body home for a proper burial is the hardest part of all.
