The U.S. Coast Guard said on Saturday that it had suspended a 17-hour search for three people, including two children, who went missing after a small boat capsized on a river near Jacksonville, Fla.
On Friday evening, U.S. Coast Guard received reports of an overturned vessel near Goat Island, north of Jacksonville, with four people on top and another four possibly below. None were wearing life jackets, the agency said.
Officials said that the people on board had set out to take photos of the sunset while on the St. Johns River, which is the longest river in Florida and winds through and around Jacksonville.
The marine unit of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office rescued four boaters who were perched atop the overturned boat. According to the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, none of the survivors were taken to a hospital.
Divers from the sheriff’s office did not find any people underneath the boat.
A crew from the sheriff’s office discovered a person in the water who was dead, said Capt. Eric Prosswimmer, a spokesman for the fire department.
As of Sunday morning, it was not clear what had caused the boat to capsize.
“It’s an 18-foot watercraft boat — a pleasure craft so to speak,” Captain Prosswimmer told reporters on Friday night. “We have recovered the boat, and it was flipped. We flipped it back over, and it was towed back to the dock.”
Crews from the Coast Guard, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, the sheriff’s office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were engaged in the search. Two helicopters were also deployed.
The weather was calm in Jacksonville on Friday evening, with a light breeze and passing clouds.
Mike Ives contributed reporting.
