Coast Guard will suspend search for Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen

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Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen disappeared near Jupiter, Florida
Boat was found capsized on Sunday, 200 miles from where they left
Military ships, planes and a Navy destroyer have combed the Atlantic
Coast Guard will cease searching at sunset but their family believe they are still alive
They said they will carry on a private hunt after the official search ends

By Wills Robinson For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

Published: 12:45 EST, 31 July 2015 | Updated: 15:23 EST, 31 July 2015

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The hope of finding two teenage fisherman who've been missing at sea for a week faded to its lowest point on Friday as the Coast Guard revealed it would be suspending the search at sunset.

Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, both 14, remain lost in the Atlantic after military ships, planes and a Navy destroyer combed an area the size of the state of West Virginia to find them.

Their boat was found capsized Sunday morning nearly 200 miles from where they left port near Jupiter, Florida, last Friday.

Coast Guard Capt. Mark Fedor expressed his 'heartfelt condolences' to the boys' families and said the case was 'excruciating and gut-wrenching'.

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Missing: Perry Cohen (left) and Austin Stephanos (right) were last seen Friday July 24 around Jupiter, Florida. The Coast Guard said Sunday that teams had spotted the 19-foot boat in which the teens had been traveling

Search: Coast Guard has searched 25,000 square miles since the boys went missing - this map of Florida shows where the boys were last seen and where their boat was recovered

Capsized: The U.S. Coast Guard found the teens' 19-foot boat capsized some 67 miles off the shore of Daytona Beach on Sunday morning, but the two boys were not found

He added: 'I know those statistics will not ease the pain of the families, but I hope at some point in the future they can take solace in the fact that hundreds of people searched thousands of miles because we were committed to finding Austin and Perry.'

The boys' parents say they plan to continue a private search even after the Coast Guard's efforts end.

Fedor added that he would be happy to provide assistance and would send out crews if something was found that was linked to the boys.

The relentless hunt by sea and air turned up no clue where the 14-year-olds might have drifted from their capsized boat.

Authorities had expanded the search to Tybee Island in Georgia after tourists said they spotted something floating in the water but the Coast Guard could not find anything.

On Tuesday, family and friends of the boys held a prayer vigil at Jupiter Lighthouse Park in Tequesta, Florida.

As questions were raised about why the boys were allowed to go out on the water alone, it emerged that they grew up on the water and constantly boated and fished together.

They even worked at a tackle shop together and immersed themselves in a life on the ocean. Cohen's family said he learned to swim before he took his first steps.

Coast Guard suspends search for missing Fla. teens at sunset

Search: A member of the Coast Guard scans the Atlantic Ocean from a plane as the search for the pair of boys entered its sixth day

No signs: Petty Officer 3rd Class Charles Camarda (left) and Petty Officer 3rd Class Nate Matthews scour the surface of the water for the two boys. Their families believe they are out there, waiting to be found

Prayers: Mary Kaye Hagenbuch, center, says a prayer for Stephanos and Cohen during a prayer vigil at Jupiter Lighthouse Park, Tuesday, July 28, 2015, in Tequesta, Florida

Support: Two girls embrace during a vigil for the teenagers lost in the Atlantic waters

Community support: Heather Kenney (right) of Jensen Beach, Florida, stands with her son Xander, 11, during a vigil for the boys

Emotional: Andrew Grubowski, 10, of Palm City, Florida releases a lantern above the sea as two vessels continue their search in the distance

'Austin has been on the water since before he could walk,' Stephanos' mother, Carly Black, said in an interview with Today on Tuesday.

'This is his fourth boat. This isn't new to them. These boys have been doing this...It's in their blood. They're out there.'

And many locals have been quick to defend the families and said such independent teen outings are commonplace among those with a passion for the water.

Clive Botha, a neighbor and friend of Cohen's family, said his own children took a boat out alone as teens and cruised local waterways, even as he forbade them from the deep ocean waters.

'We always told our kids to not go out of the inlet, but kids will be kids, you know?' he said. 'I get goosebumps. In my heart, they could have been my kids.'

Vigil held for missing teen boaters as families hold out faith

Prayers: Carl Hodges, of Stuart, Florida, right, reads a prayer during the vigil on Tuesday, as a search continues for the boys from the Atlantic waters off Daytona Beach, Florida, north through Savannah, Georgia

Hope: The mothers of the boys - Carly Black, right, and Pamela Cohen, left - are holding out hope that ramped-up search efforts - paired with their sea-hardy sons' skills - will soon lead to a joyful reunion

Fears: People gather during a candlelight vigil and paper balloon release at Jupiter Inlet Park on Monday. Austin Stephanos and Cohen were last seen in Jupiter, Florida, Friday afternoon buying fuel near Jupiter

However, Cohen's stepfather, Nick Korniloff, said his stepson was supposed to remain on the Loxahatchee River and the Intracoastal Waterway during the outing with his friend, as they had numerous times before.

Although they clearly ended up in the ocean waters, Korniloff said he didn't believe the boys were heading to the Bahamas, as some have speculated.

'It's a bit of a surprise to see, for us, that they went offshore,' Korniloff said.

Adding earlier: 'We need every clue and we need everyone's help.'

However, he wouldn't comment on questions about whether 14-year-olds should be allowed to venture so far alone.

The boys went missing on Friday, when they were spotted buying fuel about 1:30 p.m.

A line of summer storms moved through the area later that afternoon and when the teens didn't return on time, the Coast Guard was alerted at 5 p.m. and launched its search.

'They're out there' Mothers of missing teens speak out

The 19-foot boat was found overturned Sunday off Ponce Inlet, more than 180 miles north of where the boys started their journey. The search has continued, day and night.

The boys may be reaching the boundaries of human survival, but with many unknowns, anything remained possible.

Laurence Gonzales, the author of 'Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why,' said the very vague rule of thumb is humans can stay alive three minutes without air, three days without water and three weeks without food but examples of defying that abound.

The longest someone has been known to survive in the open ocean without water was about five days, he said, but whether the boys had supplies, wore life jackets or are clinging to something could help.

'People will constantly surprise you,' said Gonzales, an author of four books on survival whose own father was a World War II pilot who survived being shot down. 'You'll think, `Surely this guy is dead.' And you'll go out and there he will be alive.'