The United States Coast Guard spent Monday searching for four Maine fishermen after the vessel they were aboard sank off the Massachusetts coast on Monday.
The Coast Guard said the 82-foot fishing vessel, Emmy Rose, sank at about 1 a.m. some 20 miles off Provincetown.
When the Coast Guard First District Command Center in Boston received an alert from the emergency position indicating radio beacon, or EPIRB, from the Emmy Rose they immediately deployed aircraft and ships to the scene.
By 2:30 a.m., a number of ships and aircraft were searching the area and hours later, an empty life raft, debris and the EPRIB had been found.
By 8:30 a.m., the ship was determined to have sunk and by Monday evening there had still been no other signs of the four missing crew.
Emmy Rose is homeported in Portland, Maine, and the vessel's owner has said all four of the crew were from the state.
"It was a great crew. They don't get any better than that," said vessel owner, Rink Varian in a phone interview with NBC affiliate NEWS CENTER Maine.
Eight-foot waves had been detected in the area where the ship was believed to have sunk.
Family members of the missing fishermen on Monday afternoon had gathered on one of Portland's piers to discuss the search.
"I dropped my phone and fell to the ground because I didn't want to believe it," said Reyann Matthews, whose father, Jeff Matthews was on the vessel.
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Joined by her cousin Dana, Matthews' niece, the pair hugged other friends and family of the missing crew.
"He's been lost in the water before for a day and they found him, we're just hoping for the same result," Dana Matthews said.
As for the exact circumstances for the sinking, the Coast Guard could not immediately say what had happened.
The search for the fishermen was expected to continue into Monday night.
