We want to thank the U.S. Coast Guard and the many volunteers from Florida to Maine whose comtributions were nothing shrot of extraordinary.
Advertisement
A spokesperson for the families of Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen said privately-funded private search and rescue outfits can stop combing the ocean for signs of the missing boys, according to WPTV-TV.
“Our families praise the Coast Guard’s dedicated efforts, both before and after the vessel was located”.
TEQUESTA, Fla. (AP) – The families of two Florida boys who went missing at sea say they’ve called off their private search. The boys were seen at a marina at 1:30 p.m., but when a storm rolled through that afternoon, their parents couldn’t reach them by cell phone.
A charity foundation is now in the process of being established by the families of the missing teens in order to help educate young boaters on boat safety.
Donations to fund the search came in by the hundreds, and there were several well-attended vigils for the boys, at their school and at shore near the spot where they left.
Off Savanna, Ga., two life jackets and a boat cushion were found – but couldn’t be linked to the boys.
A press release sent out by the families said they ended their search at sunset on Saturday, August 8th.
The families of two 14-year-old Tequesta, Fla., boys lost at sea have ended their desperate two-week search off the Atlantic coast. The search continued northward on the presumption that items from their boat would have been carried in that direction.
Advertisement
The families had held out hope that items believed to have been on the boat, including a large cooler, might be spotted, or that the teens might even have clung to something buoyant in their struggle to stay alive.
