Coast Guard suspends search for 3 American sailors last heard from April 4

By Taylor Romine, CNN

The US Coast Guard is suspending its search for three missing Americans last heard from on April 4 near Mazatlán, Mexico, according to a Coast Guard news release.

The search was suspended “pending further developments” after Mexican Navy and US Coast Guard responders “conducted 281 cumulative search hours covering approximately 200,057 square nautical miles” with no sign of the missing vessel or passengers, the release said.

Two men and one woman aboard the vessel “Ocean Bound” reportedly left Mazatlán on April 4 on their way to San Diego with plans to stop in Cabo San Lucas, but ultimately did not report in or arrive there, the release said.

Kerry O’Brien, Frank O’Brien and William Gross are all “experienced sailors,” according to an earlier joint statement from their families.

“An exhaustive search was conducted by our international search and rescue partner, Mexico, with the U.S. Coast Guard and Canada providing additional search assets,” said Commander Gregory Higgins, command center chief of Coast Guard District 11. “Unfortunately, we found no evidence of the three Americans’ whereabouts or what might have happened. Our deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of William Gross, Kerry O’Brien and Frank O’Brien.”

The family is asking for privacy at this time, the release said.

Higgins had previously told CNN that the weather was less than ideal when the trio set out.

“When they began their voyage we know that the conditions were not optimal for that type of trip, though certainly, there were sailing vessels out there during that time. Winds potentially over 30 knots and seas 15 to 20, maybe more, feet at the time of their voyage,” Higgins told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday.

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Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified the gender of one of the three missing American sailors. They are two men and one woman.