Coast Guard suspends search for people missing from fishing vessel that sank off Massachusetts

GLOUCESTER, Mass. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday suspended the search for seven people who were aboard a commercial fishing vessel that sank off the coast of Massachusetts in rough, frigid waters.

The Coast Guard launched a search and rescue mission early Friday after receiving an alert from the 72-foot (22-meter) Lily Jean about 25 miles (40 kilometers) off Cape Ann. Searchers found a debris field near where the alert was sent along with a body in the water and an empty life raft, the Coast Guard said.

Crews covered about 1,000 square miles (2,589 square kilometers) using aircraft, cutters and small boats over a 24-hour period. However, after consultation between search and rescue mission coordinators and on-scene commanders, the Coast Guard announced Saturday that it had determined that all reasonable search efforts for the missing crew members had been exhausted.

Officials said there wasn’t a mayday call from Lily Jean as it navigated the frigid Atlantic Ocean on its way home to Gloucester, Massachusetts, America’s oldest fishing port. The Coast Guard was notified by the boat’s beacon that alerts when it hits the water.

The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the sinking. Officials did not immediately release the names of those who were lost.

“We are deep in sorrow, but we are a strong community, and we will rise, we will rise to this occasion,” Republican state Sen. Bruce Tarr said during an emotional news conference Saturday.

The Coast Guard’s Sector Boston commander, Jamie Frederick, said frigid temperatures and stormy conditions made finding survivors at night difficult, a task made more challenging with a nor’easter approaching the East Coast this weekend. Searchers dealt with 7- to 10-foot seas and freezing ocean spray, Frederick said.

At the time of the emergency alert, the National Weather Service said wind speeds out at sea were around 27 mph (24 knots) with waves around 4 feet high. It was 12 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 11 degrees Celsius) with water temperatures about 39 F (4 C.)

Frederick said there was “no single clue" to lead officials to determine what happened to the Lily Jean so far.

“The debris looked like anything that would be loose on a deck, things that float off a fishing deck,” he said.

It is the latest maritime tragedy to befall Gloucester and its close-knit community of people in the fishing business. The city that inspired “The Perfect Storm” is tied to its fishing heritage in a way that has brought 400 years of history and, sometimes, tragedy. That book and movie were inspired by the FV Andrea Gail, which went missing at sea in 1991.

Vito Giacalone, head of the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund, described the fishing community as a brotherhood that was grieving and in shock.

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

Paul Lundberg, Gloucester's mayor, said the names of those on the Lily Jean would be added to a city memorial honoring thousands of fishermen who have been lost at sea.

The Lily Jean, its captain, Gus Sanfilippo, and his crew were featured in a 2012 episode of the History Channel show “Nor’Easter Men.” Sanfilippo is described as a fifth-generation commercial fisherman, fishing out of Gloucester, in the Georges Bank. The crew is shown working in dangerous weather conditions for hours on end, spending as many as 10 days at sea on one trip fishing for haddock, lobster and flounder.

“We loved each other,” Giacalone said about his relationship with Sanfilippo. “He treated me like a big brother and I treated him like my younger brother. To know the tragedy of this and to know the kind of character that Gus had, he'd be mortified to know that these lives were all lost.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a fishery observer was on board the vessel. Fishery observers are workers who collect data on board fishing boats for the government to use to craft regulations.

NOAA Fisheries said observer deployments would be suspended until after midnight Wednesday due to the sinking and the weather in the Northeast.

Deep-sea fishing in New England can always be hazardous, but it can be especially dangerous in the winter because of high waves, frigid temperatures and unpredictable weather. Commercial fishing is often cited as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

Everett Sawyer, 55, a childhood friend of Sanfilippo, said he has known 25 people who were lost at sea. Cold winter conditions can complicate operations even for experienced sailors, Sawyer said.

“Things happen very quickly when you’re out on the ocean,” he said.

Casey reported from Boston, Ngowi reported from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Associated Press reporter Adrian Sainz contributed from Memphis, Tennessee.

Fishing boats are tied up in Gloucester, Mass., the home port of a vessel that that went missing at sea with seven people aboard, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Fishing boats are tied up in Gloucester, Mass., the home port of a vessel that that went missing at sea with seven people aboard, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Fishing boats are tied up in Gloucester, Mass., the home port of a vessel that that went missing at sea with seven people aboard, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Ice coats radar instruments on a fishing boat up in Gloucester, Mass., the home port of a vessel that that went missing at sea with seven people aboard, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Fishing boats are tied up in Gloucester, Mass., the home port of a vessel that that went missing at sea with seven people aboard, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Offshore fishing vessels are docked near the State Fish Pier in Gloucester, Mass., where one of the community's fishing boats went missing off the coast of Massachusetts with multiple people on board, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Flowers are seen placed at the Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial in Gloucester, Mass., after a fishing boat from port city went missing off the coast of Massachusetts with multiple people on board, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Flowers are seen placed at the Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial in Gloucester, Mass., after a fishing boat from port city went missing off the coast of Massachusetts with multiple people on board, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

FILE - Fishing boats are docked in the harbor of Gloucester, Mass., May 11, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired on targets across the Middle East while American and Israeli airstrikes hit the Islamic Republic early Friday as the war neared the end of its fifth week unabated and the U.N. Security Council prepared to meet over Tehran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

Despite claims from the U.S. and Israel that Iran’s military capabilities have been all but destroyed, Tehran has continued to keep the pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors. Bahrain and Kuwait both reported early morning barrages from Iran, while Israel warned of incoming missiles.

Activists reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan, but it wasn’t immediately clear what was hit.

Iran’s attacks on Gulf region energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, have sent oil prices skyrocketing and is impacting global economies.

Spot prices of Brent crude, the international standard, were around $109 early Friday, up more than 50% from Feb. 28 when Israel and the U.S. started the war with their attacks on Iran.

Shipping had flowed freely through the strait before the war, but U.S. President Donald Trump has said it’s not now Washington’s responsibility to get the waterway reopened, instead putting the onus on others, saying this week that the countries that depend more on fuel shipped through Hormuz should “build some delayed courage” and go “take it.”

The U.N. Security Council was expected to vote Saturday on a proposal from Bahrain that would authorize defensive action to ensure vessels can safely transit the strait. Bahrain’s initial draft would have allowed countries to “use all necessary means” to secure the strait, but Russia, China and France — who have veto power on the Council — expressed opposition to approving the use of force.

Speaking Thursday in South Korea, French President Emmanuel Macron said the American expectation that the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened by force was unrealistic.

Macron said a military operation “would take an infinite amount of time and would expose anyone passing through the strait to coastal threats from (Iran’s) Revolutionary Guard." He added that reopening of the strait “can only be done in coordination with Iran,” through negotiations that would follow a potential ceasefire.

Talks organized by Britain and involving more than 40 countries focused on political rather than military means to secure the strait. The nations, which didn't include the U.S., urged increased diplomatic pressure on Iran and possible sanctions.

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran during the war, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced in Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion in its fight with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militant group. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.

Rising reported from Bangkok. AP journalists Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Iraqi women hold a portrait of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in the Shi'ite district of Kazimiyah in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A woman checks a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Saksakiyeh village, south Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

FILE - This image released by Bahrain's Interior Ministry shows firefighters extinguishing flames after an Iranian projectile struck an industrial area in Ma'ameer, Bahrain, March 9, 2026. (Bahrain Interior Ministry via AP, File)

Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A boy who fled with his family following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sits inside the van they are using as shelter in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)