Family Feared Dead Following Boat Capsize in Alaska

(DailyVantage.com) – The search for a Texas family whose boat capsized off the coast of south-central Alaska over a week ago was put on hold due to bad weather over the weekend.

Texas residents David and Mary Maynard and their two children, Colton and Brantley, ages 11 and seven, were on a 28-foot boat with four others when it capsized on Saturday, August 3. Four of the passengers were rescued by a nearby boat but the Maynards were missing.

The US Coast Guard suspended its search for survivors on Sunday, August 4.

The nonprofit rescue and recovery team Alaska Dive Search, Rescue, and Recovery took up the search last Friday but suspended its efforts due to unsafe weather conditions that were expected to continue through the weekend.

The all-volunteer rescue team’s founder Jeremy Lilly said the search would continue when the weather improved.

Alaska Department of Public Safety spokesman Austin McDaniel told KTUU that the focus of AK Dive Rescue’s search was locating the boat and hopefully recovering the Maynards “underneath the water’s surface.”

The Maynards, who were from Troy, Texas, were vacationing in Alaska at the time. The boat took on water and capsized about 16 miles off the coast of Homer, Alaska.

DPS spokesman McDaniel said there was a good chance AK Dive Rescue would find the vessel and the missing family to help bring closure to loved ones and “shed more light on what caused this tragic incident.” He said DPS would continue to support the search efforts as long as state troopers believed there was a high probability that the boat and the family could be found.

AK Dive Rescue had deployed a towable scanning sonar that could map out any objects beneath the surface. The search team may deploy an underwater drone as well.

Once the weather improves, the recovery efforts will continue. McDaniel said the Department of Public Safety would update the public once the search begins again.

McDaniel urged boaters to always use life jackets and carry communications when boating in the Alaska waters.