The Coast Guard suspended its search today at sunset for the 10 crew members of a Taiwanese fishing vessel who disappeared about 550 miles northeast of Midway Island.

“As a lifesaving service marking the decision to suspend a search is never easy,” Capt. Craig O’Brien, Coast Guard 14th District chief said.

The Coast Guard and Navy aircrews along with our maritime surface partners put forth great effort searching in extremely challenging weather,” but found no sign of the missing crew members.

The search began Dec. 31 after Rescue Coordination Center Taipei lost contact with the Yong-Yu-Sing No. 18.

The Coast Guard and Navy rescue crews, along with crews of four good Samaritan fishing vessels and five Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System vessels conducted 34 searches over 80 hours, covering 44,000 square miles.

An Air Station Barbers Point HC-130 aircrew found the vessel adrift on Jan. 1 and noticed a missing life raft, but no sign of the crew.

The aircrews made daily sorties of the area, as the merchant and fishing vessel crews searched.

Winds have been blowing more than 20 mph and seas of 11 to 25 feet are forecasted to deteriorate rapidly, the Coast Guard said.