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Coast Guard suspends search for missing fishing boat
HONOLULU—The Coast Guard suspended the search Saturday for an overdue 83-foot commercial fishing vessel near the Republic of Marshall Islands.
Fishing vessel Clear Water 02 reportedly went missing with nine people aboard while en route Majuro for offload, March 12.
“Suspending a search is never an easy decision and is only done after intense scrutiny and evaluation of our search efforts as a whole,” said Lt. Justin Gear, JRCC Honolulu command duty officer. “We offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of the missing crew.”
A Coast Guard aircraft searched 49,837 square miles totaling 44 search hours. Ten good Samaritan vessels also assisted in search efforts. A Navy P-3 Orion airplane from U.S. Navy 7th Fleet searched Thursday and Friday covering an additional 8,747 square miles.
Sunday, good Samaritan vessels recovered 34 fishing floats labeled “CW02” 224 miles east of Majuro. Two life rings marked “Clearwater 02” were located by one of the fishing vessels searching 114 miles south east of Kwajalein on Tuesday and Friday.
At 5:26pm March 12, watchstanders at the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu received notification from the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Majuro after the vessel failed to return to port as scheduled. An HC-130 Hercules airplane crew launched from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point at 8:39pm March 12.
Clear Water 02 is a Federated States of Micronesia-flagged vessel with one Marshallese and eight Chinese nationals aboard. (USCG)
