2 Children, 1 Adult Still Missing After Fatal Boat Capsize in Florida, but Officials Have Suspended the Search

After a boat carrying eight passengers capsized in Florida, one person was found dead and four were taken to safety. The remaining three, including two children, are still missing — but authorities have officially called off the search.

On Friday, March 21, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) received a report of a vessel that had overturned on the St. Johns River, and sent FWC officers to the scene at around 8 p.m. local time, according to Jacksonville outlet WJXT.

The United States Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville also received a report about the overturned boat, which it described as 18 feet in length. Four people were on top of the vessel, while the other four were underneath. None of the boaters were reportedly wearing lifejackets, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Of the eight people, one was recovered from the water “unresponsive,” and later pronounced dead, according to the Coast Guard and the FWC.

The four people on top of the boat were safely recovered from the river, which spans over 300 miles, while the three remaining boaters — one adult and two children — are still missing, authorities said.

A coast guardsman “attempted to contact the people reportedly underneath the vessel but received no responses,” the Coast Guard said. Divers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office also searched underneath the vessel, but did not see anyone.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Sunday, March 23.

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The search for the missing individuals quickly expanded and became a multi-agency effort, kicking off at night and continuing at first light the following morning.

Officials with the FWC and Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office — along with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, Clay County Sheriff's Office and several Coast Guard stations — used helicopters, dive teams and more to scours the land and water, as they urged the public to avoid the area amid the search.

Later that day, however, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that it was calling off the search for the missing boaters.

On Saturday, March 22, the Coast Guard suspended its search after 17 hours — and after more than 270 square miles were covered — “pending the development of new information,” it announced in a news release.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of those missing,” Lt. Cmdr. Barton Nanney, a search and rescue mission coordinator for U.S. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville, said in the release.

“Suspending search efforts is an incredibly difficult and heartbreaking decision, made only after an exhaustive and thorough search,” Nanney continued. “We are truly grateful to our partner agencies for their relentless efforts and unwavering support.”

The cause of the boat's capsizing is currently under investigation, officials said, adding that no further details will be made available to the public at this time.