The Coast Guard tracked the voyage, which is about 75 miles via land, and by midmorning Wednesday, an airplane crew discovered a debris field after completing eight search patterns.
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About an hour after the second body’s recovery, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection airplane spotted a sailboat mast just over 100 miles offshore from Fort Myers, the Coast Guard said.
The body found Wednesday was reportedly that of 17-year-old Rebecca Kimberly, Fox News reported.
Ace Kimberly and his children, Roger Kimberly, 13, Donny Kimberly, 15, and Rebecca Kimberly, 17, disappeared after setting out from Sarasota on a sailboat Sunday morning. Woodall declined to name the body found, deferring to local officials.
A U.S. Coast Guard official told a news conference that they have recovered the body. The second body found Thursday was found 4 miles from the first body.
Earlier, crews recovered another kayak and other personal items belonging to the Sarasota family as the search for survivors continues.
A yellow kayak matching the description of a kayak known to be with the missing family was picked up by a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission boat crew Thursday morning.
Headed to Fort Myers for boat repairs, the family left Sarasota at 7 a.m. Sunday, ABC reported.
Captain Clark set sail on Father’s Day too – the last day anyone heard from Ace Kimberly and his three teenagers.
Anyone who enters the Gulf of Mexico is asked to keep a lookout and contact Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg at 727-824-7506 with any information.
Earlier on Thursday, authorities located a bucket with a Global Positioning System navigator, birth certificates, a wallet and cell phone and other personal belongings. “We are continuing to keep in very close contact with the family and keep them updated on all developments during this hard time”. “It was in the search area, and we’re searching it very hard”. The Associated Press reports that the brother said that Kimberly indicated the family was sailing through “rough seas and thunderstorms” and wanted to get weather reports from on land. Ace Kimberly called family to say they were caught in heavy seas off Englewood.
One body was found Wednesday amid debris from the 29-foot sailboat about 33 miles west of Sanibel Island.
Authorities have also located a bucket that held some of the family’s possessions, AP reported.
The items include water jugs, a pair of tennis shoes, a basketball, a propane tank, a tarp and six life jackets. The bucket was found about 5 ½ miles away from where the body was found Wednesday afternoon.
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Searchers have also found debris from the boat.
