The Coast Guard received an EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon) signal from the fishing vessel Northern Edge at 4:44 p.m. Monday, indicating the 75-foot New Bedford, Mass.,-based scallop vessel was in distress. Shortly after, the crew of the Northern Edge radioed a mayday reporting the boat had overturned and was sinking.

Soon after, another vessel fishing nearby, the Diane Marie, a 91-foot boat also homeported in New Bedford, radioed the Coast Guard to report a fishing vessel in the area was “...either going down or on fire.” Steaming toward the Northern Edge, the Diane Marie captain, Tony Alvernaz, heard in transmissions made available by the Coast Guard, radioed, “All I see is flares…I lost contact on radar.” He later reported he had taken on one survivor, Pedro Furtado of New Bedford, who had escaped to the vessel’s life raft. The Diane Marie then stayed on the scene to assist with the search for the remaining fishermen.

Lost were the captain, Carlos Lopes, and his crew, Glen Crowley, Juan Flores, Eric Guillen, and Ray Richards.