The U.S. Coast Guard halted their search for Guo Chuan, the Chinese sailor who went missing off the coast of Hawaii on Tuesday, after rescuers found his unmanned boat adrift.
Lu Kang, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry (MF), told reporters on Thursday that rescuers had not found Guo yet. But the MFA and the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles are keeping a close eye on this incident.
The U.S. Coast Guard officials decided to suspend search efforts on Thursday after rescuers boarded Guo's yacht named Qingdao China and found that the boat was damaged and his life jacket was on it, but there was no sign of the sailor, according to AFP.
The U.S. Navy and Air Force joined in the search for Guo after the Coast Guard discovered his ship, his support team said on its official WeChat account on Wednesday.
U.S. Coast Guard Captain Robert Hendrickson offered his condolences and described Guo as "a professional mariner with a deep passion for sailing" in a statement on Thursday, AFP reported.
"The chances of Guo returning alive may be slim by now," Wang Qi, the manager of China Sports Industry Group and also a friend of Guo, told the Global Times on Thursday.
"Sailors cannot leave their boat at any time as it carries all the survival kit in the ocean, while Guo has already been missing for over 24 hours," said Wang.
During an earlier voyage, Guo had encountered an accident in the Atlantic Ocean when he took off the jacket to fix the broken vessel, Wang revealed.
Guo, 51, last made contact at 3 pm Tuesday Beijing Time as his trimaran Qingdao China sailed 900 nautical miles off the west coast of Hawaii, according to his support team.
Qingdao China embarked on its journey from San Francisco on October 19 and was scheduled to arrive in Shanghai around November 5.
Before his voyage, Guo said in an interview with the Xinhua News Agency that the greatest fear he had as a sailor was to fall in the water.
