Coast Guard suspends 10-day search for 9 missing boaters near Micronesia

The U.S. Coast Guard has called off its search for nine people aboard a missing skiff near the Federated States of Micronesia after a 10-day effort that covered more than 33,000 square miles of the Pacific.

The 20-foot vessel was reported overdue July 31 after it failed to arrive at Ruo Island, about 625 miles southeast of Guam and 70 miles north of the Chuuk Islands, according to U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam.

The search, which ended Sunday, involved Coast Guard, Air Force and Navy aircraft and vessels, along with Micronesian and commercial ships, the Coast Guard announced Tuesday in a news release.

“We have made the difficult decision to suspend our active search,” Coast Guard Lt. Adeeb Ahmad, the search-and-rescue mission coordinator, said in the release. “Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of the missing during this challenging time.”

Additional details on the skiff’s occupants were not immediately available, Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer Lisa Ferdinando told Stars and Stripes by email Tuesday.

The Coast Guard’s newest Guam-based cutter, the Vincent Danz, joined the search shortly after arriving at its new homeport. The service postponed the vessel’s welcoming ceremony so it could participate.

The ceremony has not yet been rescheduled, Ferdinando said.

Other assets included a Coast Guard C-130J Super Hercules from Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii; two Navy P-8 Poseidons from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa; and an Air Force C-130J from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, the news release said.

The Micronesian patrol vessel Tosiwo Nakayama also participated, along with the commercial vessels Firmament Ace and Hikari 1 through the Automated Mutal-Assistance Vessel Rescue program, or AMVER.

“We are also extremely grateful to the international and U.S. military partners who worked tirelessly alongside us,” Ahmad said.

The new fast-response cutter is named for Marine Corps veteran Vincent Danz, a Coast Guard reservist and New York City police officer who was killed while responding to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Small fishing boats, cargo craft and personal watercraft frequently travel long distances between islands across Micronesia and the Northern Marianas, where engine failures and severe weather can quickly turn routine trips into search-and-rescue missions.

In April, six crew members aboard the 145-foot cargo vessel Mariana went missing in the area during Typhoon Sinlaku. The Coast Guard later found the vessel overturned, but the crew was not found.

Earlier that month, the Coast Guard rescued three people who had been stranded for a week in a 23-foot skiff off Micronesia after their outboard motor failed during a planned one-day trip between Fananu and Murillo islands.