Ponce Inlet, FL – After 6 days of searching for 2 Florida teenagers missing at sea, the United States Coast Guard isn’t ready to throw in the towel quite yet.
USCG says the search continues for 14-year-old Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen of Jupiter nearly a week after both were reported missing during a fishing trip and nearly 4 days after their overturned fishing boat was found nearly 70 miles off-shore of Ponce Inlet.
There’s been no sight of the 14-year-old boys since they bought around $110 worth of fuel in the Jupiter area around 1:30pm Friday, but Coast Guard officials remain optimistic that the boys are alive and floating somewhere in the ocean.
That comes following a day where the Associated Press initially reported that the search for the teens was suspended, something that USCG insisted wasn’t the case later on in the day via Twitter and also in a press release sent that night.
“We are actively searching at this time,” said USCG Petty Officer 3rd Class Anthony Soto. “It is ongoing right now.”
Having said that, Soto did admit that the search is becoming more “complex” the longer it takes, especially with USCG officials estimating that the boys could survive in the open sea for around 5 days at most given the current weather conditions.
Coast Guard vessels are combing through a zone 100 nautical miles wide off the Southeast US coast, stretching from Jupiter north to Charleston, South Carolina.
53 search patterns have been done so far by USCG vessels during this massive search effort, covering approximately 40,000 square nautical miles in the process.
4 USCG cutters and 2 airplanes – one based in Clearwater and the other in North Carolina – were assisted in Wednesday’s search by the US Air Force and Navy as well as Customs and Border Protection and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Even Flagler County’s FireFlight helicopter got into the act, with a pilot and medic searching a 150 mile stretch of ocean water along Flagler’s coast Wednesday morning for the boys and finding nothing.
“We had good visibility and were able to identify dolphin, sea turtles and birds, so we feel we covered the area very well,” said FireFlight pilot Dana Morris. “We had the doors open and a life raft. We were ready to assist them if we found them.”
Flagler County Fire Rescue Chief Don Petito said it’s not that unusual for the Coast Guard to ask the county for help in these kinds of searches.
“Flagler County is in an area where the Coast Guard has minimal resources,” Petito added. “The Coast Guard’s air assets are in Savannah [Georgia] and Miami. Their water assets are in Jacksonville and Ponce Inlet. We’re right here.”
Volusia County Beach Safety personnel were also dragged into the search Wednesday after getting reports of floating debris around a mile east of Winter Haven Park in Ponce Inlet.
“We launched a jet ski to check it out,” said VCBS Captain Andrew Ethridge. “It turned out to be a rusty barrel and clearly unrelated to the ongoing search and rescue operation being conducted by the Coast Guard.”
The mother of one of the missing boys thinks they may have made flotation devices out of a cooler and a white engine cover, something that USCG officials wouldn’t address during a press conference Monday afternoon.
USCG Captain Mark Fedor says an examination of the boat showed that the boys might have been tinkering with the engine after going out to sea, but that it was impossible to know for sure if engine problems caused the boat to capsize.
A $100,000 reward has been offered for their safe return by former football great Joe Namath, who is a neighbor of the boys.
Candlelight vigils have been held throughout the state by those praying for the boys’ safe return, including Wednesday night at the Daytona Beach Bandshell.
Authorities are asking anyone who may spot the boys or those items to call USCG at 561-262-9292.
The video above of the actual boat is courtesy of USCG.
The flyer below was released to the media on Monday.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.