Coast Guard Cutter Waesche passed Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay en route to its California homeport in Alameda on Aug. 11, 2024. The cutter was returning from a 120-day Indo-Pacific patrol. (Matthew Masaschi/U.S. Coast Guard)

The Coast Guard has suspended its search for Seaman Bryan K. Lee, who was reported missing from the Cutter Waesche while operating in the eastern Pacific Ocean, service officials said Monday.

Lee, 23, from Rancho Cordova, Calif., was noticed missing at about 6:45 a.m. on Feb. 4, the Coast Guard said in the statement.

“The cutter was conducting a routine counter-drug patrol approximately 300 nautical miles south of Mexico,” the Coast Guard said. “The cutter immediately deviated from its patrol and initiated a comprehensive search effort.”

The search covered 19,000 square nautical miles and involved a Coast Guard helicopter, two Customers and Border Protection Dash-8 aircraft, a C-130 transport aircraft from the Air Force’s 39th Rescue Squadron, another C-130 from the Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak and a drone launched from the Waesche.

A Mexican patrol boat and aircraft also assisted in the search, officials said.

“This case has been extraordinarily challenging, and the decision to suspend the search pending new information is not an easy choice,” said Cmdr. David Stern, the search and rescue mission coordinator for Coast Guard District Eleven in Alameda, Calif.

Coast Guard officials did not provide any personal information about Lee or his service record.