The family of four who were reported missing after their boat capsized off the Alaska coast have been presumed dead — and other passengers on the boat are now sharing their recollections of the tragic incident.
In new audio of a court proceeding called a presumptive death hearing obtained by local Texas outlet KCEN TVsurvivors from the capsized boat which left 42-year-old David Maynard and his wife Mary, 37, and their sons, 11-year-old Colton and 7-year-old Brantley, in open waters in early August spoke out for the first time.
“They were just gone,” one anonymous survivor said during the hearing, which is held when a person is believed to be dead but there is no direct proof of their death. “It had to have been, I mean, it was 10 minutes, maybe 10 minutes from us having fun to the boat … the boat rolled like this, tipped on its side, and then the engines went down and just the nose up.”
The U.S. Coast Guard’s public affairs specialist Shannon Kearney previously confirmed to PEOPLE that the family of four was on a 28-foot aluminum boat when it started to take on water at around 7 p.m. local time on Aug. 3 while they were vacationing in Alaska. Four other people were on the boat with them at the time, said Kearney, who noted that the four other people had been rescued from a life raft after the “Coast Guard issued a radio broadcast to notify local vessels of the situation.”
The Homer Spit on Kachemak Bay, Kenai Peninsula seen from a hilltop.
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During the hearing, the captain of the boat told a six-person jury that while they were out on the water, one of the engines went out, and he anchored the vessel.
“We were just finishing and hanging out and cooking hot dogs and hamburgers,” the captain testified, per KCEN-TV.
“At one point. David asked me, got my attention and he pointed to the back corner of the deck where there was a drain hole for water that would come up (and) get on deck,” the captain continued. “He pointed to it and he said, ‘Is that normal?’ I said ‘no’ at that point, went into the cabin and I just got ready to fire up the engine to pull anchor, but engines wouldn’t start and I kept trying.”
The boat’s captain also testified that at one point, he had lost track of the Maynards while he was trying to help his own family. He said he tried to reach inside the boat through an open window to help the Maynards, but the vessel was sinking quickly.
Speaking about the moments before the boat capsized, the anonymous survivor testified through tears: “Mary walked between the two of us…and I said, ‘Are you afraid?’ and she said, ‘Yes.’ ”
The captain and other survivors were able to pull out a life raft before the vessel went underwater, they testified, and another boat eventually picked them up.
Also during the hearing, the Coast Guard said that they searched for the family for more than 30 hours. They also said the Maynards had a “functional survival time” of 7.1 hours and a “cold survival time” of 9.7 hours.
The six jury members eventually determined that the family of four is presumed to have died as a result of accidental drowning, KCEN-TV reported.
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Kearney previously confirmed to PEOPLE that the Coast Guard suspended its search after 24 hours, noting: “The decision to suspend a search is never easy and involves the careful consideration of many factors including environmental conditions and search operations.”
“Our deepest condolences go out to the family, friends and loved ones of the missing people during this unimaginably difficult time,” Kearney added.
A GoFundMe page set up to help the family with unexpected expenses has reached more than $21,000 so far.
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