Coast Guard search for missing fishing boat 40 miles off N.J. coast grows desperate
by Spencer Kent and Sophie Nieto-Munoz 11 Feb 2018 04:50 AEDT
A photo of the Queen Ann's Revenge, a 46-foot fishing boat that went missing early Thursday about 40 miles off the Jersey Shore © Milene Oliveira
The families and friends of two missing commercial fishermen are holding on to a sliver of hope that the men will be found after their boat began taking on water and vanished early Thursday about 40 miles off the New Jersey coast.
Paul Alexandre Matos, 30, of Bayville, and his crew member, Dennis Smalling, were aboard the 46-foot Queen Ann's Revenge when one of the men sent out a distress signal at about 1:20 a.m.
Matos' sister, Milene Oliveira, told NJ Advance Media Thursday afternoon that family and friends were becoming increasingly worried that the men wouldn't be coming home as hours rolled by and darkness approached Thursday.
"At this point, everybody has lost any hope that they'll be found alive -- it's been so long and the weather is cold, we're completely devastated," Oliveira said. "He was in the Navy (and) if there is a person who has extensive training with all of this, it's him -- which is why some of us are still holding on to some hope."
According to Matos' girlfriend, Amy Romano, Matos set out with Smalling late Monday night, leaving from what's locally known as "the clam dock" in Point Pleasant.
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