Confirmed: Sunken boat off Sandy Hook is missing ‘El Jefe’

New Jersey State Police confirm that the sunken boat found in Sandy Hook Channel is the missing fishing trawler El Jefe.

The presence of a body on board has not yet been confirmed as activity in the water has been suspended for the day due to dangerous water currents but will resume early Thursday morning, State Police said.

The 40-foot commercial trawler was reported missing by another boat on Tuesday afternoon prompting a massive search by the New Jersey State Police Marine Unit, the U.S. Coast Guard, the NYPD Special Operations Unit and several fire & rescue units from Monmouth County.

A vessel was found on Wednesday morning under the ocean near buoy 14 just north of the beach in Sandy Hook, the area where the El Jefe was last seen, but NJ State Police were not able to immediately identify the boat, authorities said at the time.

The Belford Seafood Co-op identified Tom Anderson on its Facebook page as the El Jefe's captain and the only person on board. He had recently joined the co-op.  ABC 7 reports Anderson had lived most of his life in Rockaway, Queens and had two children and two grandchildren.