The body of a 53-year-old Maine woman who went missing Sunday morning after the 21-foot recreational fishing boat she was on capsized about 10 miles off Biddeford Pool was recovered after a four-hour Coast Guard search. Three other people were rescued after one of them fired a handgun as a distress call, the Department of Marine Resources said.

The body was found about 2:30 p.m. Sunday by the dive team of the Maine State Police and Maine Marine Patrol, authorities said.

The accident happened about 10:40 a.m. when the cuddy cabin boat took a wave off the stern and overturned. The four people on board were thrown into the water, said a Coast Guard spokesman, Petty Officer 3rd Class Andrew Barresi.

They did not have life jackets. One of them fired a handgun into the air. That alerted a passing boater, who rescued the three, who had been in the water for 30 minutes. The 53-year-old woman did not resurface after the boat capsized, Barresi said.

Conditions were calm and visibility was good at the time of the accident, the Coast Guard said.

The boat is owned by a Maine resident, said Lt. David Hamel of the Saco Fire Department.

Search boats from the Scarborough and Saco fire departments were dispatched, along with a Coast Guard vessel out of South Portland, several private boats and two Coast Guard aircraft. The Biddeford Pool Police Department also helped with the search.

The names of the woman and the survivors were being withheld pending notification of next of kin, said Jeff Nichols, spokesman for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.


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