UPDATED, Tuesday 9 a.m.:The Coast Guard has suspended the search for a 27-year-old woman that has been missing since a canoe reportedly overturned in Ocracoke Inlet near Portsmouth Island on Saturday, but her family and friends are not giving up hope.
According to a post on Facebook, Savannah Jane Grant of West Virginia was still missing when the Coast Guard called their crews in Monday at dark after searching approximately 1,635 square nautical miles over 73 hours.
Two men that were also reportedly on the canoe were found alive.
“The decision to suspend a search is the toughest part of my responsibilities,” said Capt. Matt Baer, commander, Sector North Carolina. “Our hearts are with the family who lost a loved one during this incident.”
According to the Facebook post, she was wearing a life jacket and that a dog named Poseidon was still with her when she was last seen by one of the survivors.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector North Carolina command center received a report via 911 at approximately 4:15 p.m. Saturday of a capsized canoe with two people aboard. A third person was not mentioned by the Coast Guard in their initial news release.
A member of the group called from a cellphone to report they had capsized, but had one percent battery life remaining on their device. The Coast Guard said they subsequently lost contact.
A Coast Guard helicopter aircrew located a conscious male survivor alongside a green canoe approximately 2.8 miles offshore of Drum Inlet at approximately 9:54 a.m. on Sunday, about 25 miles south of Ocracoke Inlet. The Coast Guard did not specify if that person was found in the ocean or Pamlico Sound.
The survivor was hoisted into the aircraft and transported to Carteret Hospital in Morehead City.
A second survivor, the original reporting source, was found ashore on Great Island by a good Samaritan, at which point he reported swimming to shore and had last seen the missing person in the early morning hours of Sunday.
Great Island is around 30 miles south of Ocracoke Inlet in Cape Lookout National Seashore.
Numerous aircraft and boats from several Coast Guard stations in the region continued to search for the missing woman into Sunday night.