Three people died and a fourth person is presumed dead after a boat sank off the coast of New York City, authorities said Monday. Two others were hospitalized.
The U.S. Coast Guard called off its search around 6 p.m. Monday after failing to locate 52-year-old Vernon Glasford, of the Bronx, the last of the six people who were aboard the Grady White.
The 30-foot vessel went down 5 miles southeast of Breezy Point, Queens, after taking on water around noon Sunday during a recreational fishing excursion, the Coast Guard said.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of Vernon Glasford,” said Capt. Jonathan Andrechik, the commander of Coast Guard Sector New York. “The decision to suspend a search is always difficult. Though our active search has ended, our support and sympathy remain with all those impacted by this tragic incident.”
The water temperature in the search area was about 38 degrees Fahrenheit.
The other people aboard the boat were located Sunday. A Coast Guard boat crew recovered three people, a Coast Guard air crew recovered one person, and a New York City police aviation crew recovered another person. Four were unresponsive, the Coast Guard said. The NYPD said the hospitalized people were in critical and stable condition.
The identities of the rest of the victims have not been released, though the family of one of the victims spoke to NBC New York and wondered what could have gone wrong on the water.
"He say he wanna go try the new boat. April is the time go fishing, he goes with five more friends," said Francisca Adames, the wife of Cecilio Javier Adames, who family members said died while doing one of the things he loved most.
Francisca Adames said she spoke with her husband on the phone as he was out on the water.
"He told me there’s a lot of wind," she said, before asking him why he wouldn't come back then.
Adames' daughter Alisha said her father's friend told them he "literally watched one of them jump and drown...the one that drowned, they can’t find his body." Alisha said her father had been rescued from another boating accidents on the North Shore of Long Island in 2009.
"His boat was sinking as well with my two brothers," she said.
The search covered approximately 842 square miles over the course of 30 hours and involved helicopters, planes, ships and small boats, the Coast Guard said.
