Coast Guard officials suspended search operations at 7:30 a.m. Monday after an 11-hour search found no evidence of a person overboard from the Washington state ferry MV Puyallup.

Ferry officials contacted the Coast Guard at approximately 9:30 p.m. Sunday, April 26 after a life ring was spotted in the water.

Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg said that the search efforts included the use of a 45-foot boat from Portland and a Dolphin helicopter from Port Angeles and covered 211 miles in total.

There were good visibly conditions throughout the search, he added.

No person or body was found.

An alert broadcast was simultaneously made to all mariners in the area alerting them to the possibility of a person overboard, Klingenberg said.

The life ring had definitely come from the ferry Puyallup, Klingenberg said, though there was no other evidence that someone had actually gone overboard.

“In a case like this we were unsure if there was anybody in the water,” he said, and added that there existed the possibility that somebody had thrown the life ring into the water “just because.”

The Coast Guard search delayed ferry service between Bainbridge and Seattle for at least three sailings Sunday night.

The 9 p.m. sailing from Seattle to Bainbridge, the 9:45 p.m. return sailing from Bainbridge, and the 10:40 p.m. sailing from Seattle were delayed.