US Coast Guard suspends search for man and 3 children whose boat capsized off Maine's coast

A lobster boat passes by the Goat Island Light at Cape Porpoise in Kennebunkport, Maine.

(CNN)The US Coast Guard suspended a search Sunday for a man and three children who went missing after their 14-foot boat capsized off the coast of Kennebunkport, Maine.

In a mayday call released by the US Coast Guard Northeast Division, the man said the boat flipped over and he and the children were in the water trying to get back to the top of the boat. He said if that was unsuccessful, they would huddle in the water.

#BreakingNews@USCGNortheast releases audio of mayday call from missing man 10NM off of Kennebunkport, Maine #SAR#CoastGuardpic.twitter.com/qdw1eyTkYm

— USCGNortheast (@USCGNortheast) October 5, 2019

The Coast Guard received the call around 10 a.m. Saturday and searched for the missing four for about 22 hours, in an area that spanned over 1,500 square nautical miles, according to a USCG release. The search team included Maine Marine Patrol, Wells Police Department and other local participants, the release said.

The search was called off at 8 a.m. Sunday, the release said.

"We utilized every resource at our disposal and applied an extraordinary amount of search effort to locate these boaters. If there was anyone in distress we gave them the best possible chance for rescue," said Cmdr. James McLay, search and rescue mission coordinator at Sector Northern New England.

CNN's Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report.

By Amir Vera, CNN >>