Coast Guard suspends search for survivors of fishing boat carrying seven people that capsized off Massachusetts

The Coast Guard said freezing conditions and rough seas made the nighttime search extremely difficult

The U.S. Coast Guard announced Saturday that it has suspended search operations for the six missing crew members aboard the commercial fishing vessel Lily Jean, which sank off the coast of Massachusetts on Friday.

The decision came after more than 24 hours of continuous search efforts failed to locate additional survivors after finding one person dead. There were seven people on board, including a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observer.

The emergency response began early Friday when Coast Guard units received a signal from the vessel’s emergency position-indicating radio beacon about 25 miles off Cape Ann in Gloucester.

Search teams deployed aircraft, cutters and small boats across roughly 1,000 square miles of ocean in freezing winter conditions. They discovered a debris field near the beacon’s reported position, recovered one person from the water who was unresponsive, and located an unoccupied life raft.

Despite exhaustive efforts, Coast Guard officials said they found no additional signs of life.

Boats in Gloucester Harbor. The Coast Guard recovered one body from a sunken Massachusetts fishing vessel, while six others remain missing after the search was suspended (Getty Images)

After consulting with search and rescue coordinators and on-scene commanders, they determined all reasonable effort had been made to find the missing crewmembers, leading to the suspension of active search operations on Saturday.

The Lily Jean, a 72-foot groundfish trawler based in Gloucester, did not issue a distress call before the EPIRB alert, according to authorities. The vessel was returning to Gloucester, known as America’s oldest fishing port, when the incident occurred.

Local officials and community members described the tragedy as a devastating blow to the tightly knit fishing town.

Vito Giacalone, head of the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund, said Gloucester’s fishing community is in shock and mourning the loss.

"Everybody's just heartbroken," Giacalone told the Associated Press Saturday. "To have that many lives lost all at once, we haven't seen that in a long time."

The captain of the Lily Jean, fifth-generation fisherman Gus Sanfilippo, and his crew were featured in a 2012 episode of the History Channel series “Nor’Easter Men,” which chronicled the dangers of commercial fishing in New England waters.

Coast Guard officials said freezing temperatures, rough seas and an approaching nor’easter made the nighttime search extremely difficult, comparing it to looking for a coconut in the ocean.

Coast Guard Sector Boston Commander Jamie Frederick said freezing temperatures, rough seas and the vastness of the ocean made nighttime searches for survivors especially difficult, with an approaching nor’easter further complicating efforts along the East Coast.

"That is the equivalent of searching for a coconut in the ocean," Frederick said Friday.

The National Weather Service reported strong winds, four-foot waves, and frigid air and water temperatures at the time of the alert.

The Coast Guard is continuing its investigation into what caused the vessel to sink.