Capsized boat of missing teens has now vanished as Coast Guard admits they didn't bring the empty vessel back to shore in search for the boys

• Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, both 14, disappeared near Jupiter, Florida 
• Boat was found capsized ten days ago, 200 miles from where they left 
• TowBoatUS says the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission contacted it to retrieve the vessel 
• The company says it's not in the area where the Coast Guard last spotted it
• The Coast Guard does not normally tow boats to shore
• After a diver determined no one was onboard the Coast Guard marked the location and kept searching 
• The teens 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

By Associated Press

Published: 14:19 EST, 4 August 2015 | Updated: 14:52 EST, 4 August 2015

The boat two teens were on when they went missing off Florida's Atlantic coast is no longer where the Coast Guard found it.

Multiple media outlets report that a marine salvage company hired by the Coast Guard to bring the boat back to shore couldn't find the vessel, which was discovered capsized on July 26.

Coast Guard spokesman Anthony Soto said Monday the boat had been left unsecured and the agency has no plans to look for it. 

Scroll down for video 

Capsized: The U.S. Coast Guard found the teens' 19-foot boat capsized some 67 miles off the shore of Daytona Beach on ten days ago. The boat has since vanished when a towing company set out to retrieve it

Missing: Perry Cohen (left) and Austin Stephanos (right) were last seen Friday July 24 around Jupiter, Florida. The Coast Guard spotted the 19-foot boat in which the teens had been traveling but did not bring it back

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, some 200 miles away

Soto says the boat wasn't brought to shore earlier because officials were focused on search efforts instead.

The Coast Guard called off its search for the 14-year-old boys, Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos, on Friday, one week after they went missing. 

Since then, volunteers have continued looking for the teenagers.

An account set up on fundraising website GoFundMe to help cover fuel costs for private boats and planes has passed $450,000 in the six days since it was created by Cohen's mom, Pamela Cohen. The account has a goal of reaching $550,000. 

'The Perry & Austin Rescue Fund' will be utilized to fund private aircraft, boat fuel and any other additional resources needed for the immediate recovery of these missing boys.

Should there be any surplus funds at the conclusion of the search and rescue efforts, they will be directed to aid in similar activity that will benefit saving lives in related situations,' the site reads.

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. The official Coast Guard's search for the pair has now ended

'Our families' are committed to continue the search and rescue efforts of our boys with the aid of volunteer pilots and aircraft. This fund will continue to be utilized to fund private aircraft, boat fuel and any other additional resources needed for the immediate recovery of our missing boys.

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our families, friends, neighbors, colleagues, community along with strangers from around the world for your prayers and thoughts as well as all that have contributed to the Perry and Austin Rescue Fund to ensure the boys safe return.'

The boys' boat was found capsized ten days ago nearly 200 miles from where they left port near Jupiter, Florida.

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

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.'

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

The boys' parents say they plan to continue a private search even though the Coast Guard's efforts have ended.

'I am truly overwhelmed by the amount of love & support you have shown for our family and the boys ... your prayers are needed and appreciated more than I can ever tell you,' Austin's father, Blu Stephanos, said in a Facebook post Monday. 

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.  

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. 

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 last 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.  

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

The 19-foot boat was found overturned ten days ago, more than 180 miles north of where the boys started their journey. 

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.'

Missing: This missing poster details the information that the family has about the boys' disappearance

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