Massachusetts
TV star fisherman’s tragic final call with pal hours before vessel carrying his entire crew sinks off Massachusetts coast
The TV star fisherman who vanished with his crew off the coast of Massachusetts after their boat sank reportedly had a concerning call with his pal – hours before the tragedy on Friday.
Gus Sanfilippo, skipper of the Lily Jean, and six others are presumed dead after their 72-foot fishing vessel capsized when temperatures at sea were a bone-chilling 12 degrees.
Fisherman Sebastian Noto claimed he spoke with Sanfilippo — a fifth-generation commercial fisherman out of Gloucester, Mass. — at around 3 a.m, where the two discussed the outdoor conditions.
“I quit. It’s too cold,” Sanfilippo reportedly told Noto, according to NBC Boston. “He was calm. He just couldn’t do the cold because the air holes were freezing.”
Noto became concerned when there was no sign of Sanfilippo hours later.
“I was about 30 miles east of him. We usually work together all the time. We are like glue man. We give a lot of information back-and-forth,” Noto told the outlet.
A Coast Guard helicopter and boat scrambled to the area where the boat sent a beacon alert distress signal – around 25 miles off the coast of Cape Ann, Mass. This search was suspended on Saturday.
There was no Mayday call from the vessel and around 1,000 square miles were searched, according to Coast Guard officials.
Crews deployed aircraft, cutters and small boats over 24 hours as they battled polar conditions.
“The decision to suspend the search was incredibly difficult,” said Capt. Jamie Frederick, commander of Coast Guard Sector Boston. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all the family members and friends of the lost crew of the Lilly Jean, and with the entire Gloucester community during this heartbreaking time.”
The cause of the incident is under investigation
Sanfilippo and his crew on the Lily Jean starred in an episode of “Nor’Easter Men” which aired on the History Channel in 2012. The crew spent days at sea trying to find seafood.
One body has been found and six others are missing, according to WFXT. An empty life raft and debris were also found in the water.
Environmental biology graduate Jada Samitt, 22, was on board the boat, her family told the outlet.
Her devastated aunt Heather Michaels said being at sea was Samitt’s “dream.”
“This is something she loved and put her heart and soul into,” Michaels said.
Vito Giacalone, head of the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund, said he was left “heartbroken” by the sinking.
“To have that many lives lost all at once, we haven’t seen that in a long time.”
With Post wires
Massachusetts
Mass stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Cape Cod said to be largest in Massachusetts history
Rescuers were working to save around 30 bottlenose dolphins that got stranded off the coast of Cape Cod early Monday morning. It is the largest known stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Massachusetts, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The dolphins had become stranded between First Light and Ellis Landing in Brewster at about 5:30 a.m. when they came in with the tide. A woman noticed the animals and reported it. The IFAW quickly responded to the area, but five to six of the marine mammals died before help arrived.
The IFAW worked throughout the day on Monday to get the mammals away from the shoreline before the next low tide at 5:13 p.m. They said late Monday afternoon that they were still successfully being steered away.
“Our team remains in the area to monitor and herd the animals away from shore,” an IFAW spokesperson said. “We know these events can sometimes repeat in the coming hours and days, but we remain hopeful.”
The organization said it had seen an uptick in bottlenose dolphins becoming stranded off Cape Cod in the last few years.
“Bottlenose dolphins are typically an offshore species,” the spokesperson said.
They asked that anyone who encounters a stranded or distressed marine mammal not get close and never drag or push the animal back into the water.
“Similar to a person involved in a car accident, dolphins can become injured and exhausted during a stranding event,” the IFAW said.
Instead, they recommend calling their IFAW stranding hotline at 508-743-9548.
A man has died following an apparent drowning at a pond in Randolph, Massachusetts, on Sunday.
The Randolph police and fire departments received a 911 call at around 4 p.m. for a swimmer in distress in the water on Pond Street, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office..
Firefighters located the man a short time later, officials added, and he was taken by ambulance to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Kingston Fire Department had said just before 4 p.m. that their dive team was activated for a missing swimmer in Randolph, but that the activation was canceled after the swimmer was located.
Further information is not being released at this time, including the man’s name.
Massachusetts State Police detectives and the Randolph Police Department are investigating.
Firefighters in Lawrence, Massachusetts are working to contain a fire that damaged at least three buildings on Sunday afternoon.
Lawrence Fire Chief Patrick Delaney said they received multiple 911 calls about the buildings on fire at the intersection of Haverhill and Margin Street at about 12:45 p.m.
When firefighters arrived, there were three occupied multi-family buildings with heavy fire.
“Crews did an excellent job once they arrived on scene to make sure we did a primary search of all three buildings, make sure everybody was out,” Chief Delaney said.
No injuries have been reported. It is unclear how many people have been displaced from the three buildings that were on fire.
Chief Delaney said the firefighters were impacted by the hot weather.
“The crews are working extremely hard, they’re taking a lot of heat in all three fire buildings and we’re trying to get crews in here to make sure that they’re safe and give them some relief,” Chief Delaney said.
Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire. Firefighters from other nearby communities responded for mutual aid.
“We’re at a fourth alarm which brings a lot of resources to our city, but they’re well needed in a fire like this,” Chief Delaney said.
Police are asking residents to avoid the area of Haverhill Street at Margin Street because of the fire.
Lawrence, Massachusetts is a city about 30 miles north of Boston.
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