Ominous Sign After Fishing Boat Sinks: Empty Life Raft

The US Coast Guard is racing to find four fisherman missing off the coast of Massachusetts after their boat sank early Monday. A crew from Boston responded after an emergency radio beacon was triggered 20 miles northeast of Provincetown around 1am, per NBC News. Calls to the satellite phone on the Emmy Rose, an 82-foot fishing boat with the home port of Portland, Maine, went unanswered before the Coast Guard found debris and a life raft, which was empty. Officials—who are employing several boats, a helicopter, and a plane in the search, which is continuing into Tuesday—described "30-knot winds with 6-to-8-foot seas."

The National Weather Service had issued a warning about a possible tornado on Cape Cod early Monday, before the Emmy Rose was scheduled to dock in Gloucester, Mass., around 6am, reports the Bangor Daily News. All four people on board hail from Maine, per WGME. "I hope to God they find them," boat owner Rink Varian tells the Daily News. "These guys were very experienced. They were the best." Reyann Mathews tells WGME that her father, Jeffrey Matthews, was among those on board. He's "been lost at sea before, so, we're feeling hope for him, hope for the other crew members, hope for their family," a relative adds. (More Coast Guard stories.)