Search of Tiverton waters, shore, for possibly suicidal man called off

The shoreline search along Tiverton’s north end for a possibly suicidal man has been called off pending further developments.

Rescuers and police from Tiverton, and later from the Coast Guard, Portsmouth and Fall River, responded after Tiverton received a report after 3:30 a.m. of a man who might want to harm himself as well as a possible location, Fire Chief Robert Lloyd said.

The search initially focused on the shoreline along Bay Street in Tiverton, from roughly Judson Street north to the Fall River line.

The chief said that police “found personal items” by the water’s edge that appear to be related to the case. A firefighter at the scene said a coat was found; the chief said he believes a cell phone and other items may also have been discovered.

The Coast Guard sent a helicopter and search boat into a rough and wild Mt. Hope Bay — westerly winds by mid-morning were gusting to 40 mph.

Tiverton sent a boat out early on but called it back.

“The winds picked up dramatically, very suddenly,” the chief said, and conditions quickly became too rough for the small Tiverton boat that took shelter in the lee of Portsmouth’s Common Fence Point while working its way back.

Meanwhile crews walked a long stretch of Tiverton shoreline — covering every point at least twice, the chief said.

That search stretched from the Fall River line south to the end of Old Colony Terrace Road in Tiverton, a short distance north of the Villages on Mount Hope Bay condominiums.