Volunteers in the US state of Maine are hoping to recover the bodies of two fishermen who have been missing since Saturday (Jan. 18) by hiring divers to inspect the site where their boat may have sunk, reports Bangor Daily News.

Father and son Chester (Chet) and Aaron Barrett left Cosbscook Bay State Park in their 34-foot boat, Sudden Impact, at around 5 a.m. Saturday. They had been moving the boat from Edmunds on Cobscook Bay, where scallop fishing had just closed for the season, to their home port of South Addison, where they planned to resume fishing on Monday. When they failed to return to home port at the expected time on Saturday, they were reported missing.

The US Coast Guard, assisted by other agencies, searched the area for over a day, before calling off the search late Sunday, as previously reported by Undercurrent News. 

Local volunteers continued to search the area and, on Tuesday (Jan. 21), an official with Maine's Department of Marine Resources confirmed that local fishermen had detected an object on sonar at the mouth of the Moose River, about 160 feet below the surface, and they think it could be the Barrett's boat. 

Family member Dean Barrett, Chester's nephew, has been organizing an effort to recover the boat. The plan is to have divers in the water today (Jan. 23) to inspect the site, the Bangor Daily News reported.

Meanwhile, the community has launched a fundraiser for Melanie Barrett, wife of Chester and mother of Aaron. The GoFundMe page set up by Barrett's sister, Stephanie Chambers, notes that Melanie lost her husband of 38 years and her only child in this tragedy.

"Chet was the only source of income for the household as Melanie has been fighting her own battle with cancer," Chambers posted on the GoFundMe page.

The fundraiser has a goal of $50,000 and, within the first day, had raised $33,299.