CG ends search for NFL players and 3rd man

[unhappycamper]

Former University of South Florida football player Nick Schuyler clinging to the engine of an overturned boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Schuyler, Marquis Cooper, William Buckley and Corey Smith left Clearwater, Fla, on a fishing trip Saturday morning and did not return. The other three remain missing.


CG ends search for NFL players and 3rd man
By Christine Armario - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 3, 2009 17:07:49 EST

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Coast Guard called off the search Tuesday for two NFL players and a third man lost at sea off the Florida coast after their boat capsized during a fishing trip.

The Coast Guard said it doesn’t believe anyone is on the surface of the water and the search would end at sundown. Still missing in rough, cold water were Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent defensive lineman Corey Smith and former South Florida player William Bleakley.

“We’re extremely confident that if there are any survivors on the surface of the water that we would have found them,” Coast Guard Capt. Timothy Close said.

Hopes were raised Monday when rescue crews found a fourth man who was aboard, 24-year-old former South Florida player Nick Schuyler, who managed to stay with the boat for more than 36 hours after it overturned Saturday evening.

Prospects for survival were beginning to look more grim throughout the day, with the father of one of the men saying the Coast Guard told him privately that officials were losing hope because of the time that has passed and the possibility the men would be suffering from hypothermia. Coast Guard officials said publicly that they were still hopeful.


Rest of article at: http://navytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_coast_guard_search_nfl_030309/%2e

[Double T]

1. Sharks.