CLEVELAND – The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search at 7:52 p.m. Thursday for the vessel reported to be in distress with four people aboard near Lorain, Ohio, after finding no traces of the boat or boaters.

A Coast Guard 25-foot Response Boat-Small crew and 41-foot Utility Boat crew from Station Lorain, an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Detroit, the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Thunder Bay, a Royal Canadian Air Force CC-130 Hercules aircrew, Lorain police and personnel with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Watercraft Division saturated the search area and found no signs of distress. There are also no reports of missing or overdue boaters in the area.

The Coast Guard launched the search after a pilot reported Wednesday night witnessing five red flares being shot from a 25-to-30-foot boat with four people aboard, all wearing life jackets with personal strobe lights activated, as the pilot was flying between Vermilion, Ohio, and Lorain.

The original press release is available here.

The Coast Guard suspends a search and rescue case with extremely great care and deliberation. After a probable search area is saturated with the appropriate number of assets and resources — and maximum crew effort has been expended - and persons in distress are still not located, a decision is made to suspend a case.

The Coast Guard can resume a search if credible information is received that persons reported missing have survived.