Officials confirmed on Saturday that a boat found last month off the coast of Bermuda is the one that belonged to two Florida teens who went missing at sea in July. A cell phone and plastic tackle boxes were among the items found on board the boat.
Due to a marine supply store sticker and engine serial number, authorities were able to identify it as the boat on which 14-year-old Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos had embarked on a fishing trip before getting caught in severe weather, CNN reported.
The 19-foot, single-engine vessel was found March 18 about 100 miles off the coast of Bermuda. It was picked up by a Norwegian ship and will be shipped to the U.S., according to the network.
In statements on Facebook, Cohen’s family thanked the crew of the Norwegian ship and asked that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reopen the missing persons investigation.
“This is an open Missing Persons case, and we hope that FWC reopens their investigation and utilizes the expert resources of other government agencies as well as the private sector if necessary to extrapolate the data from the recovered IPhone,” Pamela Cohen and Nick Korniloff wrote.
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