SAN PEDRO —  The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its active search Tuesday night for a sailor who fell overboard from a bulk carrier vessel 14 miles southwest of Point Conception.

Coast Guard crews searched by air and sea for nearly 15 hours, covering more than 200 square nautical miles in an attempt to find the crew member who went overboard from the African Cardinal, which was sailing the Santa Barbara Channel Traffic Separation Scheme en route to the Port of Long Beach.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to this crew member’s friends and family,” said Chief Warrant Officer John Rose, search and rescue mission coordinator at Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach. “The decision to suspend an active search is never easy and is only made after exhaustive efforts to find the missing person.”

The Coast Guard’s Long Beach Command Center received a report at approximately 5 a.m of the crew member who had gone overboard, the Coast Guard said. The center’s watchstanders immediately issued an urgent marine information broadcast, stating the nature of the situation.

A rescue helicopter took off from Forward Operating Base Point Mugu, a small boat crew departed from Coast Guard Station Channel Islands and the Coast Guard Cutter Robert Ward was diverted to search for the crew member, the Coast Guard reported.

Anyone with information regarding the search was urged to call the Coast Guard’s Los Angeles-Long Beach Sector at 310-521-3801.