Search for missing Bering Sea fishing ship called off

JUNEAU, Alaska (CNN) -- The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for a fishing vessel and 14 crew members missing since early Monday in the Bering Sea.

Coast Guard cutters, airplanes, and helicopters scoured 2,500 square miles of turbulent waters for more than 60 hours looking for the Arctic Rose and the ship's crew. The searchers had to endure 25-foot seas, and 42-knot winds before calling off the search late Wednesday.

The search mission went "well past the best-case survival time of 36 hours for a person in a properly donned survival suit," Petty Officer Darrell Wilson said. The crew had access to survival suits, but may not have been able to get them on before the ship sank.

An emergency beacon showed the ship sank about 200 miles northwest of St. Paul Island.

Only the body of captain David M. Rundall of Hawaii was recovered.

The 14 missing Arctic Rose fishermen are Shawn M. Bouchard, 25; James Mills, 25; Angel Mendez, 35; Kery P. Egan, 35; Aaron R. Broderick, 22; Jimmy L. Conrad, 22; Robert Foreman, 30; Edward F. Haynes, 35; G.W. Kandris, 25; Kenneth R. Kivlin, 50; Jeff Meincke, 19; Michael Nevreiter, 37; Mike Olney, 47; and David Whitton, 30.

"It's the biggest single loss of life on a commercial fishing vessel in the United States in 50 years," said Coast Guard Public Information Officer Dan Dewell in Washington.

The Gudrun went down in the north Atlantic in 1951, also taking 15 lives.

Because of the large loss of life, Coast Guard Commandant James Loy has said he will name a marine board of investigation to look into the circumstances of the ship's disappearance.

The National Transportation Safety Board will also investigate the incident and will issue its own report, Dewell said.

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