A lobster fisherman in his 80s has been missing since Saturday afternoon, west of Stora Härmanö on Orust. His white fishing boat, about six metres long, was seen beating against the rocks, engine running, nobody in sight. He has not been found dead. The work continues as a missing-person search, not as an acute sea rescue.

The alarm came shortly after noon, from someone on shore. The rescue society from Skärhamn and Käringön went out, with a police boat nearby. A mobile phone on board led to the family. The man, who lives in the area, had gone out for lobster. A lobster pot lay by the boat. One working theory, not a cause: he may have been caught in his gear.

The search grew: boats, Coast Guard divers, a helicopter, drones and a dog along the shore. The boat's plotter track was used too. Swedish police, in a 17 October note updated on the 18th, confirm that JRCC closed the rescue around 5pm and handed the file to police as a missing person.

On Sunday the marine police flew a drone along the coast again. The Coast Guard and volunteer rescuers searched on the water and among the rocks. The man is still missing. Relatives have been told. His name has not been published.

A closed rescue does not mean a body found. It means that, for now, it is no longer a life-at-sea emergency, but a person search. Until he is found, the cause is unknown: a fall, gear, illness or something else.

Orust is lobster coast and rock. On Saturday an empty boat became an alarm. On Sunday, a drone. The man is still not home.

Image: Andersreilund, fishing boat in Bohuslan, about 1981, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; an archive skiff, not the Härmanö boat.

Sources consulted: Rescue launched after missing fisherman - SVT; 17 October 12.04, rescue, Orust - Swedish Police.