Only one life jacket was recovered near the capsized boat, leading authorities to believe the boys may have created a makeshift flotation device out of the missing engine cover, life jackets and a cooler. The Coast Guard said Sunday that teams had spotted the 19-foot boat in which the teens had been traveling.
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The search area for two Jupiter, Florida, teens who vanished Friday after going on a fishing trip has been expanded, and their families are asking the public to help in the hunt as well.
Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen were last seen on Friday buying fuel in Jupiter in South Florida, near their affluent hometown of Tequesta in Palm Beach County.
US Coast Guard The Coast Guard is searching for missing 14-year-old boys Austin Stephanos (r.) and Perry Cohen (l.), who went missing Saturday. They were last seen that same day near the Ponce De Leon Inlet, near Cape Canaveral in central Florida, buying $110 worth of gas.
Authorities found their capsized boat some 60 miles offshore two days after the boys left Jupiter Inlet on a fishing trip.
The boat will be anchored in place while search-and-rescue efforts continue.
The Coast Guard said it remains optimistic that Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos, both 14 years old, will be found alive.
Though he conceded the probability of finding someone alive decreases as time passes, he notes others have survived longer at sea.
“Hopefully the lanterns will fly far enough and they’ll be able to see them and know we’re still looking for them – that we need them to come home”, said friend Isabella Murgio.
“We continue to search for the missing boys”, Coast Guard Capt. Mark Fedor said in a statement Tuesday.
Fedor said water temperature, weather and the will to live are just some of the factors used in determining when a sea search is concluded. “This is something they’ve prepared for their whole life”, she said. They were reported missing less than four hours later, after thunderstorms, high winds, big waves and heavy rains had swept through the area.
“They’ve brought out every resource they have”, Carly Black, Austin’s mother, said of the Coast Guard. A Coast Guard HC-130 airplane and three cutters were involved in the search.
Their parents described the teens as experienced boaters and fishermen. People can survive in the water.
“They’ve been through rough water”. A family flier released Monday included this picture of the boat.
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Florida requires minors to have boating safety instruction in order to operate a boat of 10 horsepower or greater, but no licenses are issued. The families pledged a $100,000 reward in the search and numerous friends and strangers took to planes searching for clues, though the Coast Guard discouraged such private searches. They’ve already conducted dozens of searches covering almost 31,000 square nautical miles.
