One boater rescued, 3 still missing as search called off in WA, Coast Guard says

A search for three people missing after a recreational boat capsized off the Washington coast has been suspended, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Someone reported the 20-foot vessel capsized and began taking on water off Mukilteo at 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 21, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

Other boaters rescued one of the three people on the boat, but the other three went missing, the Coast Guard said.

A Coast Guard helicopter and three boats searched for the missing boaters, but the search was suspended at 10:45 p.m., the agency said.

“This is a tragic event and suspending a search without finding the individuals you are searching for is one of the hardest decisions to make,” Lt. Cmdr. Jason Acuna, search and rescue mission coordinator for Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound, said in the release.

“Our thoughts are with the missing individual’s families during this difficult time,” Acuna said.

The Everett Fire Department and Everett Police Department also participated in the search for the missing boaters, the department said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Mukilteo is about a 25-mile drive north from Seattle.

This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 1:58 PM with the headline "One boater rescued, 3 still missing as search called off in WA, Coast Guard says."