Updated

A man who was rescued by the crew of a commercial fishing boat Tuesday after he fell overboard from a tanker has died, the Massachusetts Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said. 

In an update Wednesday, officials said the crew of a commercial fishing boat who helped rescue a man who had fallen overboard the chemical tanker MTM Dublin had died from the nearly 40-foot drop.

In the early morning hours Tuesday, the commercial fishing boat America responded to the tanker's mayday call of a crew member who had fallen overboard, and was the first vessel on the scene.

Two US Coast Guard vessels sit in port in Boston Harbor across from the US Coast Guard Station Boston in Boston, Massachusetts

A U.S. Coast Guard vessel in Boston Harbor across from the USCG Station Boston in Boston, Mass.  (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images/File/Fox News)

Crew members used flashlights to search for the missing man in the pitch-black water before spotting and rescuing him.

Despite the fishing crew administering CPR to the man and transferring him to a U.S. Coast Guard rescue boat and the Boston Fire Department, who rushed him to the hospital, the MTM Dublin crew member died from the fall.

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Fisherman John Abraham, a friend of the America’s crew, told WFXT Boston 25 News that finding the man with flashlights was like finding a needle in a haystack.

"That’s all they had," Abraham said. "Some of (the boats) have big spotlights, but they didn’t have spotlights."

Two US Coast Guard vessels sit in port in Boston Harbor across from the US Coast Guard Station Boston in Boston, Massachusetts

Two U.S. Coast Guard vessels sit in port in Boston Harbor across from the USCG station in Boston, Mass. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images/File/Fox News)

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A rescue boat crew from USCG Station Boston responded to the scene at 4:30 a.m. The America transferred the man to the rescue boat crew, who brought him to shore, officials said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.