Search for missing boaters leads to capsized vessel and three bodies, Coast Guard says

Moira Ritter
·2 min read
3

The search for a person missing off the Massachusetts coast has been suspended after 27 hours, Coast Guard officials say.

A 17-foot vessel was reported missing around 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19, by a family member of one of the four people onboard, according to an April 21 news release from the Coast Guard.

Family told officials that the boat left Hampton Harbor around 7:30 a.m on Wednesday and was scheduled to return by sunset, but it never came back, the Coast Guard said.

Using cell phone data, Coast Guard rescuers said they began searching the area where the boaters were supposed to be fishing near Jeffreys Ledge. Around 2 p.m. on Thursday, an overturned vessel was located about seven miles northeast of Cape Ann.

The boat was identified as the missing vessel, according to the Coast Guard. By 4:30 p.m., rescuers had pulled three people from the water.

Jia Fu Zheng, 38, of Quincy, Massachusetts, Daxiao Lin, 43, of Quincy, and Jaime Liu, 42, of Litchfield, New Hampshire, were found unresponsive and taken to Station Gloucester, Massachusetts, officials said. They were pronounced dead at the station.

One boater, Bin “Michael” Cai, remained missing as of Friday, according to the Coast Guard.

The search was suspended just after 10 a.m. on Friday, officials said.

“The decision to suspend a search and rescue case is one of the most difficult decisions I must make, but we want the public and especially Mr. Cai’s family (to know) that we did everything in our power to find them,” Capt. Amy Florentino, commander of the Coast Guard Sector Northern New England, said in the release. “The water temperature in New England at this time of the year dramatically reduces the survivability rate for anyone that enters the water, and we urge all boaters to keep the air and water temperatures in mind when planning their voyages this spring.”

An investigation is ongoing, the Coast Guard said.

Cape Ann is about 40 miles northeast of Boston.

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