Search suspended to find two sailboat crews missing off the coast of the Bahamas

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for two sailors missing after a foreign-flagged cargo sailboat sank about 20 miles north of Great Inagua, Bahamas, early last week.

Rescue teams searched by air and sea for two of the crew members of the Vanuatu-flagged schooner. De Gallant for approximately 44 combined hours since the initial report and covered more than 3,700 square miles (9,600 square kilometers).

Early in the morning (local time) on Tuesday, May 21, Coast Guard Atlantic Sector supervisors received distress notifications from De Gallant but we were unable to make contact. Coast Guard Seventh District Command Center observers received distress notifications from personal locator beacons located in the same vicinity and launched a forward-deployed MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to Great Inagua to begin a research.

At around 8 a.m. Tuesday, it was reported that the helicopter crew had located two life rafts with six survivors floating among a debris field.

The survivors, who were identified as French nationals, said that De Gallant had encountered a passing storm and had begun to take on water. Crew members donned yellow survival suits before boarding life rafts when it became clear the ship was sinking.

The helicopter crew hoisted the six survivors and took them to Coast Guard Air Station Miami in Opa Locka, Florida. All survivors are said to be in good health.

Two female crew members were missing and the Coast Guard, along with the Royal Bahamas Defense Force, continued the search. However, the search had to be stopped on the evening of Wednesday May 22.