TEQUESTA, Fla. (AP) — The Coast Guard scoured the waters off Florida today, searching for any sign of two 14-year-old fishermen who disappeared three days earlier as they headed toward the Bahamas.
On Sunday, the Coast Guard located the teens’ 19-foot boat about 67 miles from where they were last seen buying $110 worth of gas. The center-console boat had capsized but it didn’t appear damaged.
“This is an active search-and-rescue case,” Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Lehmann said Sunday night. “We maintain our perpetual optimism that we are going to find somebody.”
There were storms in the area at the time Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos started their trip Friday. Despite their age, they have been described as experienced boaters.
As the Coast Guard searched for them, hundreds of family members, friends and classmates took part in a Sunday night prayer vigil at Jupiter Christian School, where Stephanos has attended since kindergarten.
Coast Guard officials said they’ve used a helicopter, boat and airplane and searched some 26,000 square nautical miles since the boys were reported missing Friday afternoon. Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios said Monday that ocean drift patterns complicated the search, but that crews continued to search.
