MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says search crews spotted a possible white flare in the Gulf of Mexico while searching overnight for a family missing off the coast of southwest Florida.
Capt. Gregory Cage said helicopter and boat crews saw what appeared to be a white flare at 2:26 a.m. Thursday as they searched for 45-year-old Ace Kimberly and his three teenage children.
Read More: Second body found as searchers seek missing family in Gulf
One body was found near a debris field on Wednesday but authorities have not released the identity.
Cage also says searchers found a bucket containing birth certificates and other items belonging to the Kimberly family about 5 miles from the body. The debris field is about 33 miles off Florida’s west coastline.
He says they’re still “holding out hope” that they’ll find survivors.
The family left Sarasota on Sunday, heading to Fort Myers in a 29-foot sailboat. They were last heard from Sunday evening when Kimberly contacted his brother and said they were experiencing “6-foot waves and thunderstorms.”
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