As the hunt for Perry Cohen—the 14-year-old stepson of art fair impresario Nick Korniloff—and his friend Austin Stephanos carried into its third day, the US Navy joined in the search.
The Coast Guard search team has already covered about 29,000 square nautical miles. The Navy has added the USS Carney to that team.
Donations to the families’ rescue efforts can be made here.
Meanwhile, Korniloff’s wife, Pamela Cohen, took to social media to post updates and to urge people to help in any way possible in the ongoing efforts to find and rescue the boys. The search term #FindAustinandPerry is being used to flag information on Twitter.
On Sunday, according to a lengthy report in the Washington Post, an MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter spotted the boat the two teenagers had been fishing from. The boat had been capsized in the water about 67 nautical miles off Ponce de Leon Inlet in Volusia County. But there was no sign of the boys.
Post from Pamela Cohen’s Instagram.
Photo: Courtesy of @perminak via Instagram.
In her latest Instagram post, Pamela Cohen noted that the engine cover of the boat was found to be missing and that it is believed the boys may have made flotation devices out of items missing from the boat, including a life jacket and a white Yeti cooler.
Yesterday evening, the US Coast Guard, which has been providing updates on social media, tweeted that it had found the capsized boat the teens were last seen on. This afternoon the Coast Guard released video footage of the capsized boat.
Cohen told CNN in an interview: “None of us are giving up hope they’re going to find the boys. Obviously it’s a terrifying experience to be living through.” Cohen added: “I don’t know what happened, none of us know what happened. If we did we’d have them in our arms right now.”
“We’re continuing the search,” Navy officer Stephen Lehmann said at a briefing today, “and we maintain the highest level of optimism going into this.
The boys went fishing on the white, single engine, 19-foot boat on Friday July 24. They were reportedly Snapchatting with their parents around 11:30am and were last seen around 1:30pm at a marina, where they purchased gas.
The US Coastguard tweeted this image of the rescue crews in Florida gearing up for the third night of the search for the missing boys.
Photo: Courtesy of @uscoastguard via Twitter.
Korniloff and Cohen reported the boys missing at 5pm Friday. The Coast Guard immediately embarked on an extensive search.
Former NY Jets football star Joe Namath, a neighbor and friend of the Korniloff’s, joined the effort as a spokesman. There is a $100,000 reward being offered for the safe return of the boys.
Korniloff told one news outlet that both boys are experienced boaters. Several reports say the boys were heading in the direction of the Bahamas.
Korniloff, who founded Art Miami, runs several other high-profile and well received art fairs around the country, in the Hamptons, Silicon Valley, and New York with Cohen’s help as director of marketing and sponsorship.
For related coverage, see:
14-Year Old Son of Miami Art Fair Impresario Missing at Sea
artnet Asks: Nick Korniloff, Founder of Art Miami New York
Nick Korniloff Expects Big Returns From Debut of Downtown Fair