The search for two fishermen whose boat was found crashed and washed ashore the coast of Palos Verdes has been suspended, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
The two men, who have not been identified by authorities, have been missing since the Los Angeles County Fire Department received a call around 5 a.m. Tuesday reporting they were supposed to come into Cabrillo Beach around midnight after hoop-net fishing. But they never returned.
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Their disappearance came amid a high surf warning warning of waves reaching up to 8 to 12 feet and strong, dangerous rip currents along the coast of Los Angeles County where they went missing.
Drones, boats and jet skis were being used in the search efforts which began around 5:30 Tuesday and led to the discovery of their 25-foot boat, according to Jake Miller, an ocean lifeguard specialist with the fire department. It was found crashed and overturned in a rocky area below the cliffs between Bluff Cove and Lunada Bay in Palos Verdes Estates, which is in south Los Angeles County.
Those efforts continued through Wednesday morning. Then, at 1:41 p.m., the Coast Guard announced in a post to X the search was suspended. Later Wednesday, a spokesperson for the federal agency said this halt in efforts is being called an “active suspension,” which means the search will resume if there are reports of signs of distress such as people waving for help.
The search is currently suspended due to there being no such signs, according to the Coast Guard, with other boaters in the area not responding to a UMIB, or Urgent Mariners Information Broadcast. This alert sent out to other boaters calls on them to report if they see any such signs of people in distress.
High surf warnings have been in effect across much of California’s coastline this week, with beaches in Northern California battered by waves reaching up to 30 to 35 feet in areas such as Monterey Bay, Big Sur and the North Bay coast. One person died in Santa Cruz County after getting trapped under some debris washed up by a large wave while another person went missing in Monterey County after being pulled in by the high surf.
