The Coast Guard said it has suspended its search for two NFL players and another man whose boat capsized off Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Hours after searchers found an orange life vest floating in the choppy seas as the hunt stretched into a third day, the Coast Guard said this afternoon that it doesn’t believe anyone is on the surface of the water.
PHOTOS: MISSING FLORIDA BOATERS
The grim discovery of the floating vest came as officials privately told families they are not optimistic the men have survived because of the possibility of hypothermia.
One of the four men was rescued on Monday.
None of the players were wearing life jackets when their boat flipped over after a sudden change in the weather Saturday evening.
Coast Guard Capt. Timothy Close said the two missing NFL players and a third man – along with the fourth surviving boater – were without the vests the moment they went overboard.
The lone survivor so far, Nick Schuyler, 24, was rescued after a Coast Guard cutter crew spotted him from a half-mile away, clutching the fishing boat’s hull about 35 miles off Clearwater, near Tampa.
The possibility of hypothermia for the remaining three boaters – former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith and former college player Will Bleakley – is “a big concern right now,” said Close.
Hypothermia can set in after 18 hours in 64-degree water, and Gulf of Mexico temperatures were in the mid- to upper-60s overnight.
Schuyler told rescuers the boat flipped as they were pulling up the anchor Saturday evening, said Close.
None were wearing life vests at the time – but all managed to swim under the boat, grab the vests and put them on, he added.
Close said the men were able to stay together for a while, but somehow got separated.
Cooper’s father, Bruce, said Coast Guard reps briefed the family this morning on the likelihood of finding the missing men.
“They aren’t too optimistic based on the time they were in the water,” said Cooper.