The U.S. Coast Guard has ended its search for the 46-year-old Atlanta woman who was on a sailboat that capsized off the coast of the Bahamas.
Laura Zekoll has been missing since Saturday night. The search ended about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, said Russell Tippets, chief petty officer for the 7th Coast Guard District.
“After 25 hours of searching and covering more than 1,600 square miles, our search and rescue coordinators felt they had done everything possible to find this missing person,” Tippets told the AJC.
The Coast Guard used a Jayhawk helicopter, Dolphin helicopter and C-130 plane in the mission.
The Royal Bahamas Defence Force also will suspend its search Tuesday, while the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association “will continue aerial surveys of the vessel and area,” according to an offshore sailing group, the Cruising Rally Association.
The group’s owner, Steve Black, said he was told by BASRA on Tuesday that “conditions are not favorable for finding Laura Zekoll alive.”
