The US Coast Guard abandoned its search on Tuesday for the 12 US Marines who went missing after their two heavy lift helicopters crashed off Hawaii last week. The search was conducted for five days after the incident occurred late last Thursday near the island of Oahu. abc news reports The decision to suspend the search at sunset local time came after four life rafts were found in the desperate search for the service members off Oahu. A U.S. Navy salvage ship — equipped with sonar and a remotely operated vehicle — had joined the underwater search effort near the last known position of the two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters. The Coast Guard earlier said that by sunset Tuesday, rescuers would have searched more than 40,000 nautical square miles. “A decision to suspend searching without finding survivors is extremely difficult given the depth of its impact and I know I speak for the entire Coast Guard when I say our thoughts and prayers are with Marine Corps helicopter squadron and particularly with families and loved ones of those missing,” said Capt. Jim Jenkins, of the Coast Guard. According to Marines spokesman Captain Timothy Irish, 400-500 service members had been still actively searching in [...]