LAKE MICHIGAN (WWJ) - The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for two boaters that went missing aboard their vessel on Lake Michigan over a week ago, authorities said Tuesday evening.
Officials for the USCG said calling off the search for the 30' vessel, Cindy Ann, with two people on board is "the hardest decision our personnel have to make."
The ship went missing on Tuesday, July 26th after family members of the two boaters, Curtis Herron and Dexter Sain, both 36, told ABC 7 they had lost communication with them not long after the ship left the Robert A. Pastrick Marina in East Chicago, Ind.
According to family, Herron was taking his recently purchased boat out of storage and was on the water when he and Sain realized the vessel's navigation system was down.
A little while later, the boat's battery died, ABC 7 reported.
Family members notified authorities the morning of July 27th after they could not reach Herron or Sain when their cell phones went dead.
A tow boat went out in search of the two boaters, but there was no sign of the ship.
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USCG began launching efforts to find the ship over the weekend and said the search area consisted of roughly 850 square miles. Rescue crews with the assistance from Canada's Joint Rescue Coordination Center Tenton conducted search efforts in the water and from the the air.
Officials deployed the use of an MH-65 and a C-130 to scour the area while USCG boats from Michigan City's St. Joseph station and Wilmette Harbor searched piers and ports.
The USCG said after several days, they decided to suspend the search pending further developments.
No other information was immediately available.
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