Search Suspended for New Jersey Couple Who Went Missing During Jet-Ski Ride in Barbados
The week-long search for a New Jersey couple, who mysteriously disappeared while jet-skiing in Barbados has been suspended.
The mission was called off by the country’s coast guard on Sunday, Roy Morris, the press secretary to Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, told CNN.
The United States had been helping with the search and withdrew its assisting aircraft on Saturday, Morris told CNN.
The search, which covered over 600 nautical miles, officially ended on Sunday, according to the Associated Press.
Following news of the search being called off, Mottley met with several family members of Oscar Suarez and Magdalena Devil and expressed her sympathy, Morris said, the Associated Press reported.
Although the search is over, Morris told NBC News, “We are still hoping for a miracle.”
Mottley did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Suarez, 32, and Devil, 25, arrived in Barbados for a romantic getaway over the weekend. Just days into their vacation, the couple rented a jet ski.
Suarez and Devil were both wearing life jackets when they headed out to sea for their excursion at Holetown Beach on the island’s western coast around 2:30 p.m. on Monday, the Royal Barbados Police Force said in a statement.
That was the last time they were seen.
The operator who sold the watercraft to the couple became worried when they did not return after nearly 30 minutes, police said in the statement. The operator enlisted the help of coworkers to look for Devil and Suarez, but there were no signs of the couple.
They then contacted the police, who could not find the couple in the water, on the beach or even back at their hotel, according to the statement.
“I’ve been calling; I call and call the police, the U.S. Embassy in Barbados, they can’t provide me with any answers,” Suarez’s mother, Ninfra Urrutia, told ABC News. “They haven’t called me back to let me know what I need to do or find out what’s going on with my son.”
“We have family members calling hospitals. No one’s answering the phone. We just know nothing,” Suarez’s sister, Susanna Cruz, told ABC News. “Please don’t stop looking. He has a daughter and son to come home to.”
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.
Suarez has two children — Elias, 10, and Tatiana, 5 — from a previous marriage, the family told ABC. He and Devil have been together for about a year, Urrutia said.
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Police said Suarez and Devil were expected to return home on Saturday.
“We just don’t even know what next step to take, I mean short of going there ourselves, looking for him,” Cruz told ABC through tears.
Cruz shared a photo of the couple on Facebook on Wednesday, writing that she and her mother were traveling to Barbados.
“On behalf of my parents and siblings, thank you all for your support and prayers,” she wrote. “We still need them.”
