In a bid to unravel the mystery behind a tragic maritime accident, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has sought assistance from the U.S. Navy. The request pertains to investigating the fatal sinking of a fishing boat that resulted in the loss of seven crew members, as confirmed by the Navy to Fox News Digital.
This week, Governor Healey, alongside State Senator Bruce Tarr, reached out to the Secretary of the Navy. They urged for help in retrieving crucial evidence, including a video recorder and hard drive from the wreckage of the Lily Jean. This vessel met its fate in January and now rests over 300 feet below the Atlantic, approximately 25 miles from the Massachusetts shoreline, as reported by WFXT-TV.
“The Office of the Secretary of the Navy has received the request,” a representative informed Fox News Digital on Saturday, adding that a formal reply is underway and will be directed to the Governor’s office soon.
Governor Healey’s efforts also extend to recovering the six remaining bodies from the ill-fated 72-foot boat, which went down on January 30.
Currently, the only recovered body is that of Lily Jean’s Captain, Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo.
The body of Lily Jean Captain Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo is the only one that has been recovered.
The six others who died in the sinking include crew member Paul Beal Jr.; crew member John Rousanidis; crew member Freeman Short; crew member Sean Therrien; and NOAA fisheries observer Jada Samitt.
“What caused it is not as important as retrieving the crew,” Donna Short, the mother of Freeman Short, a 31-year-old who was planning a wedding, told WFXT.
She said she spoke to him a few days before he went out on the doomed trip.
“He told me, ‘Hey mom, you know I’m going to be going,’ and I told him I loved him,” she said, adding that recovering his body is a “matter of laying him to rest where his legacy began next to both of his grandfathers, who are veterans.”
A placard honoring the crew of the Lily Jean is displayed at the Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial in Gloucester, Mass., on Jan. 31, 2026. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe)
The National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Coast Guard are involved in an ongoing investigation into the sinking.
The Coast Guard’s search for the missing crew members was suspended on Jan. 31, a day after the sinking, and the NTSB said it doesn’t do recoveries, according to WFXT.
When the Lily Jean sank, Coast Guard watchstanders received an emergency position indicating a radio beacon (EPIRB) alert at about 6:50 a.m. registered to the vessel.
USCG crews attempted to contact the boat, and after getting no response, issued an urgent marine information broadcast (UMIB), according to officials.
Multiple aircraft, cutters and small boats searched 1,047 square miles over 24 hours, finding debris near the location where the EPIRB was activated, along with the captain’s body and an unoccupied life raft that had been deployed.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey talks with U.S. Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick after a press conference in Gloucester on Jan. 31, 2026. The Coast Guard called off the search for the fishing vessel Lily Jean, which had seven crew members. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe/Getty Images)
Search and rescue mission coordinators, on-scene commanders and the Coast Guard determined on Jan. 31 all reasonable search efforts for the missing crew members had been exhausted.
“The purpose of a Coast Guard investigation is to identify measures that can improve the safety of life and property at sea, not to assign civil or criminal blame,” the Coast Guard wrote in a statement at the time.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Healey’s office for comment.
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