UPDATE at 6 p.m. Wednesday: One body was found. Full article here.
A father and his three children were reported missing at sea near Englewood, Fla., on Tuesday, June 21. The Coast Guard is currently searching.
Ace Kimberly, 45, from Sarasota and his teenagers Roger Kimberly, 13, Donny Kimberly, 15, and Rebecca Kimberly, 17, left Sarasota at 7 a.m. on Sunday and headed to Fort Myers for repairs on the 29-foot sailboat.
Around 3 p.m. that day, the father called his brother and said the sailboat was in 6-foot seas and he was “attempting to survive with his children offshore of Englewood and requested weather information,” the Coast Guard stated in a press release.
A “concerned family member,” possibly the brother, contacted the Coast Guard on Tuesday and the agency sent a helicopter, airplane, and three boats to search for the family.
An HC-130 Hercules airplane and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter were sent from Air Station Clearwater to join the search, as well as a 45-foot response boat from Station Fort Myers Beach, and a 45-foot response boat from Station Cortez, Fla. Coast Guard Cutter Alligator also joined the search.
The Coast Guard asks mariners to lookout for the missing boat and contact Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg at (727) 824-7506 with any information regarding the whereabouts of the family.
