The U.S. Coast Guard has recovered one body while searching a debris field believed to be part of a sailboat belonging to a Florida man and his three teenage children.
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Case said rescue crews off of Florida’s Gulf coast found a bucket with more items that belonged to Ace Kimberly, 45, and children, Roger, 13, Donny, 15 and Rebecca, 17.
The Coast Guard has also found debris from the boat, and Thursday received a report of a sailboat mast seen in the search area.
He says they’re still “holding out hope” that they’ll find survivors.
The family departed in a sailboat from Sarasota and were heading to Fort Meyers when they lost contact.
They also released an image of the boat they were travelling in. The bucket was found about 5 ½ miles away from where the body was found Wednesday afternoon.
The family left Sarasota on Sunday, traveling to Fort Myers to have the boat repaired and remodel the inside.
As of press time on Thursday, June 23 two bodies have been recovered in the search for a family of four missing in nearby waters, and it’s possible the sailboat has been located as well. It contained birth certificates, a Global Positioning System, wallet, cellphone and cigarettes, Case said.
Ace Kimberly had called his brother on Sunday, informing him that they were “attempting to survive” in rough waters offshore near Englewood. That’s the case in the search for the Kimberly family who disappeared on Father’s Day. That finding gave them hope that the three other family members could still be found alive. The second body was found east of Boca Grande, four miles southeast of the location of the first body in a life jacket, which was found on Wednesday afternoon, CNN reported. Although officials have not released the person’s identity, several media outlets have said it is Rebecca Kimberly.
“I want my children”, Pauline Solsberry, the mother of Rebecca, Roger, and Danny, said during the early hours of the search”, according to WTSP.
That is the last anyone has heard from the family. “We put in the variables of the drift and where they were last seen, the currents, and it calculates a search area and that’s where we conduct our search”, he says.
The Coast Guard said items recovered included six life jackets, water jugs and a propane tank.
This photo made available by the U.S. Coast Guard shows personal items that were recovered within a debris field off the coast of Sanibel, Fla., Wednesday, June 22, 2016.
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Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, Lee County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Air Force are also aiding in the search.
