Family crushed after 22-year-old presumed dead after Gloucester ship sinks
The U.S Coast Guard announced on Saturday morning that the search and rescue for the ‘Lily Jean’ vessel was suspended after more than 24 hours. One body was found, and six other crew members are missing.
Coast Guard suspends search for missing crew from Gloucester fishing vessel
Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick made the call to end the search:
“This is an incredibly difficult and pain staking decision, but based on the totality of the circumstances including the frigid water and air temperatures, the length of the time since the vessel sank, the recovery of one crew member, not wearing a survival suite and the discovery of an empty life raft, in the exhaustive scope of the search I believe there is no longer a reasonable expectation that anyone could have survived this long,” Frederick said.
Family says 22-year-old Jada Samitt was on the ‘Lily Jean’ crew. She moved from Virginia to the north shore for college, as she studied environmental biology. Her aunt, Heather Michaels, said she just graduated last year, and this was her first big job at sea.
“She just adores that town, the small community there. It’s something that meant so much, Michaels said. “Love for the animals, and for the ocean. This was her dream. This is something she loved and put her heart and soul into.”
Michaels says her niece was a beautiful and compassionate soul who loved and respected her captain. The family was sick to their stomach when they heard about the ship going down.
She was surprised to hear the search was suspended.
“Giving up on these six remaining lives is horrifying,” Michaels said. “They didn’t send anyone diving; they didn’t send anybody below. We don’t have any answers.”
The Coast Guard said they were notifying other families of the victims Saturday night. They expect to release more details on their investigation into what caused the ship to sink on Monday.
