The TV star fisherman who vanished with his crew off the Massachusetts coast after their boat sank reportedly shared a troubling phone call with a close friend just hours before the tragedy.
Gus Sanfilippo, the skipper of the Lily Jean, and six crew members are presumed dead after their 72-foot commercial fishing vessel capsized Friday in frigid waters, where sea temperatures hovered around a bone-chilling 12 degrees.
Fellow fisherman Sebastian Noto said he spoke with Sanfilippo — a fifth-generation commercial fisherman from Gloucester, Massachusetts — around 3 a.m. During the call, the two discussed worsening weather and dangerous conditions at sea.
Gus Sanfilippo, captain of the fishing vessel Lily Jean, reportedly had a worrying phone call with a friend just hours before the boat capsized.
“I quit. It’s too cold,” Sanfilippo told fellow fisherman Sebastian Noto, according to NBC Boston. Noto said Sanfilippo sounded calm but was struggling with the extreme conditions. “He was calm. He just couldn’t do the cold because the air holes were freezing.”
Noto grew concerned when there was no sign of Sanfilippo later that morning.
“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 were dispatched to the area after the vessel sent a distress beacon signal roughly 25 miles off the coast of Cape Ann, Massachusetts. The search was suspended Saturday.
Officials said no Mayday call was received from the Lily Jean, and crews searched approximately 1,000 square miles. Aircraft, cutters, and small boats were deployed over a 24-hour period as rescuers battled harsh, polar-like conditions.
