Massachusetts governor asks US Navy to help retrieve bodies, evidence from sunken fishing vessel
massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has asked the U.S. Navy to assist in the investigation into the sinking of a fishing vessel that resulted in the deaths of seven crew members earlier this year, the Navy and the governor’s office confirmed in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Healey and State Senator Bruce Tarr sent a letter to the Secretary of the Navy this week requesting assistance in retrieving a video recorder and hard drive from the wreck of the Lily Jean, which was found in January more than 1,000 feet in the Atlantic, about 25 miles off the coast of Massachusetts; this can determine the cause of the sinking.
“Governor Healey is requesting that the Navy retrieve a piece of equipment that could provide critical information about what caused the ship to sink,” Healey’s office said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Saturday. he said. “He also requested that the Navy consider the feasibility of recovering the remains of the missing crew members, in accordance with each family’s wishes.”
The governor’s office added that Healey “previously asked the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate the equipment on board, but unfortunately the NTSB informed us that they do not intend to make an effort to recover the equipment.”
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has asked the U.S. Navy to assist in the investigation into the sinking of a fishing vessel that killed seven crew members earlier this year.
(Getty Images)
A spokesperson for the Undersecretary of the Navy told Fox News Digital: “The Undersecretary of the Navy received the correspondence. A response is being prepared and will be forwarded directly to the Governor’s Office.”
Lily Jean Captain Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo’s body is the only one recovered.
The six other people who died in the Jan. 30 sinking included crew member Paul Beal Jr.; crew member John Rousanidis; crew member Freeman Short; crew member Sean Therrien; and NOAA fisheries observer Jada Samitt.
“What caused this isn’t as important as bringing the crew back,” Donna Short, the mother of 31-year-old Freeman Short, who is planning the wedding, told WFXT.
He said he had spoken to her a few days before he set off on the fatal journey.
“He said to me, ‘Hey mom, you know I’m leaving,’ and I told him I loved him,” she said, adding that recovering his body “was a matter of laying him to rest where his legacy began, with his grandparents.” veterans“
A banner honoring the crew of the Lily Jean is displayed at the Gloucester Fisherman’s Monument in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on January 31, 2026.
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National Transportation Safety Board and US Coast Guard The investigation launched into the sinking incident continues.
The Coast Guard’s search for the missing crew was suspended on Jan. 31, a day after the sinking, and the NTSB said it was not conducting rescue efforts, according to WFXT.
When the Lily Jean sank, Coast Guard watchmen took up an emergency position indicating a radio beacon (EPIRB) alert registered on the ship around 6:50 a.m.
According to officials, the USCG crew attempted to contact the boat and, receiving no response, issued an urgent marine information broadcast (UMIB).
Multiple aircraft, cutters, and small boats searched the 1,047-square-mile area for 24 hours, finding debris along with the captain’s body and an empty life raft deployed near where the EPIRB was activated.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey speaks with U.S. Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick after a press conference in Gloucester on January 31, 2026. The Coast Guard canceled the search for the fishing boat Lily Jean, which had seven crew members.
Search and rescue mission coordinators, on-scene commanders, and the Coast Guard determined on January 31 that all reasonable search efforts for the missing crew members had been exhausted.
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“The purpose of the Coast Guard investigation is not to indict civil or criminal wrongdoing, but to identify measures that may improve the safety of life and property at sea,” the Coast Guard wrote in a statement at the time.
Fox News’ Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
Original article source: Massachusetts governor asks US Navy to help retrieve bodies and evidence from sunken fishing vessel
