A boat that carried two Florida teenagers, Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, who were lost at sea in the summer of 2015, was located about 100 miles off the coast of Bermuda, according to multiple reports including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Austin and Perry from Tequesta, Florida, were last seen in the Jupiter area on July 24, 2015. At the time watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Miami received the report that both boys were aboard a 19-foot white single engine center console vessel. They were last seen at approximately 1:30 p.m that day after purchasing $110 worth of fuel.
According to reports, an iPhone belonging to one of the teens was found in the boat and the boat is currently being towed back to Florida. It’s scheduled to be back on May 16, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission stated in a release.
“The personal effects that were onboard the boat will be returned to the families of the victims, and subsequent information retrieval efforts from any of those items will be at their discretion,” FWC stated.
The father of Austin Stephanos, Blu Stephanos, released this statement Saturday afternoon:
“In mid-March, I was contacted by a Havard Melvaer, captain of the Norwegian transport and supply vessel the Edda Fjord, who notified our family that they had recovered my son’s missing boat off the coast of Bermuda. Capt. Melvaer provided us with some photos of the salvage operation and items recovered from the vessel. These photos verified that it was, indeed, the missing boat.”
“I wrote back to Capt. Melvaer to thank him for devoting the time and manpower necessary to recover my son’s boat and the care they took to preserve its contents.
Perry’s mom Pamela Cohen shared her thoughts on the new information in a post on Facebook.
“This is an open missing persons case, and we hope that FWC reopens their investigation,” Pamela writes on Facebook. She mentions that an iPhone was recovered from the boat with hopes that agencies will be able to “extrapolate data” that would help piece together the puzzle of what happened.
