US Coast Guard suspends search for a 7-year-old Alabama boy missing in the Gulf of Mexico

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard recovered the bodies of two boaters off the Alabama coast but suspended the search for a missing 7-year-old boy after combing the area over the weekend.

Searchers were unable to find Hunter Slezak, 7, who was on a boat that went missing Friday. The search was suspended Sunday night after rescue crews searched an area roughly the size of Delaware, Coast Guard officials wrote in a news release.

The boaters were last heard from on Friday afternoon. The Coast Guard Sector Mobile received a report Friday night of the overdue vessel, called the MARTY ANN, that had three people aboard.

Searchers on Saturday found a debris field about nine miles (14 kilometers) south of Dauphin Island, a barrier island off the Alabama coast. The bodies of Sam Wooley, 69, and Michael Slezak, 40, were recovered, but the child was not found.

“We are deeply saddened and offer our sincerest condolences to the families, friends, and communities affected by this heartbreaking and tragic incident,” Capt. Robert Tucker, Coast Guard Sector Mobile, Deputy Commander, said in a news release. “Suspending an active search for a missing child is an exceptionally difficult decision and is only made after the most exhaustive efforts have occurred.”

Michael Slezak was a coach and teacher at Semmes Middle School in Semmes, Alabama, according to the school. Semmes is about 19 miles (31 kilometers) northwest of Mobile, Alabama.

“Coach Slezak will always be remembered, and his legacy will continue to live on in each of us,” school officials wrote in a Facebook post.