If they had their life vests on and they still haven't found them after narrowing their search area - one would have to think that sharks may have done them in.
You have to think... the guy they already found was suffering from hypothermia and dehydration and was in serious condition and that was what 24 hours ago when they found him?
Yeah, I'm not an optimist by any means.....I mean you can live what, 2-3 days without fresh water and hypothermia is a serious issue in the types of conditions they're in. I don't expect them to be found alive but that doesn't mean I don't think it is sad.
Watching CNN currently...there is an announcement expected shortly. I think they are going to call it...or re-term it a recovery operation instead of a rescue operation. I bet they just call it because I'm sure they have spent quite a few dollars already. I seriously doubt we would hear about their rescue via an announcement versus just it coming out as breaking news. I would hope for anything other than "not found". Sometimes it's simple things that can mean life or death. I wonder if these four guys should have taken their shirts and/or pants together and formed a big tied circle early on. Then, looped it over the engine and the rest around themselves. I think there would have been enough length and, with good knots, then it probably would have held. At a minimum, they could use it as a make-shift rope to hold or tie onto...versus trying to awkwardly hold on to the hull. That would have kept them all with the boat. I think it could have worked. But, I'm assuming the seas were so rough that they were holding on with two hands and that course of action wasn't possible. Floating away from the boat is probably the worst thing you can do given the vastness of the sea. That's basically signing your death warrant in most cases...unless you are one extremely lucky individual. I believe the early reports were they were beginning to be delirious when they floated away from the boat. That means they were swallowing salt water probably (by accident...at least initially). They wouldn't have had long then. I mean...if the rescued guy was that bad off when he was found...then these other guys would have been at least that and much worse 12-24 hours later. It's just a terrible story...especially when Cooper's father said he wouldn't go back out because he couldn't see land and they basically laughed about it. Apparently, the father was on to something. Just a tragedy. I've been out that far once on a deep sea fishing paid deal. I had to sit on the outside on the way out. I got really sick from the motion even with meds. Luckily, I got to ride back in the a/c-ed cabin. The people that got sick were the ones who didn't get there early enough to get a seat inside. Not being able to see the land was a trip but this was a much bigger boat.
This reminds me of the end of that movie "The Perfect Storm" where that one guys is left floating in the vastness of the sea. I could not imagine being in a situation like that.
I see that they will cease the search at sundown per CNN. More info on surviving being lost at sea... http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/survive-at-sea.htm/printable Looks like those guys didn't have a chance of surviving after a day or two.
The unfortunate fact of this case is that these guys took risks in a smaller boat where safety precautions were not well thought out. They weren't even wearing their life jackets at the time of capsize. There is no way they had their cell phones in plastic bags on their person. I'm sure they were ruined once they hit the water. This boat also needed a raft and a working GPS device. This was survivable but, since they were ill-prepared for the contingency, it became too much to overcome. There are considerable risks going into the open ocean. I would expect people to be more prepared and think what would happen in a worse case scenario so they could be prepared. Instead, you start taking it for granted because you never had a problem before. It's just a terrible situation they put themselves in. Someone needed to step up and say this is a dangerous accident waiting to happen. Unfortunately, it appears noone did. Or, noone was listening. And, the fact is this is all too common but not as high profile as this particular case.
Apparently a life vest and a cooler were found floating in close proximity to each other, but no sign of life around them...
ya know... I would think that it would be standard safety equipment for a boat to have one "safety barrel". Essentially, this would be a floating barrel that, in an emergency, could be activated such that it would create a long-lasting pillar of smoke.... or something along those lines. A pillar of smoke could be spotted from miles away, while a small overturned boat or individual person in a life vest can't.
Hate to say it but probably means at least one is dead. At this point I would guess all 3 of them are.
Search has been declared over. Very, very sad. The ocean is not a good place to get lost in, even though it sounds like the guys tried their best to hold on.
Wow, that a effing terrible story. As brutal as this sounds, no way those other 3 men are alive. Complete suckage. The temperature of the water, engulfing salt water leading to dehydration, no food, etc... It would be hard enough to survive with a life vest...impossible without it. I just hope they find the bodies to give their families closure. Otherwise, I cant even imagine what it would be like for their loved ones to live the rest of their lives not know where their bodies went.
They had anchored the boat and tried to get it up before they were capsized. It's possible the anchor kept the boat in place while the guys who let go drifted away at about a mile per hour south. I think once they let go of the boat, they may have already succumbed to hypothermia.
