Sailboat mast sighting a false alarm, search for missing family continues, Coast Guard says

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A second body has been recovered as crews continue to search the Gulf of Mexico for a family missing off the coast of southwest Florida, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

A Coast Guard news release said Cape Coral Fire and Rescue found the body Thursday morning, about four miles from where the first body was found Wednesday.

Authorities have not released the identity of either.

The Coast Guard has also found debris from the boat, and Thursday received a report of a sailboat mast seen in the search area.

The mast sighting was investigated but turned out to be crab and fishing equipment, not the missing sailboat, the Coast Guard said.

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Crews have been searching for 45-year-old Ace Kimberly and his three children, Roger Kimberly, 13, Donny Kimberly, 15, and Rebecca Kimberly, 17, since the family left Sarasota on Sunday, heading to Fort Myers in a 29-foot sailboat.

They were last heard from Sunday evening when Kimberly contacted his brother and said they were experiencing "6-foot waves and thunderstorms."

Crews of a rescue boat and helicopter reported seeing a flare rise from the ocean for about three seconds at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Captain Gregory Case said.

"One of our response boats from station Cortes and a helicopter saw what they believed to be a flare rise for three seconds within the search area," Case said.

"At 8:15 a.m. this morning, one of our response boats from Fort Myers recovered a bucket in the debris area that contained birth certificates, GPS, wallet, cellphone, cigarettes, a pool noodle and a tool box," said Case.

The bucket was located about 5.5 miles from the area where searchers found a body the day before, he said.

Debris was found floating about 33 miles off the coast of Sanibel Island Wednesday before the Coast Guard found the first body in a life jacket floating in the area of the search.

Case would not confirm the identity of the body found during the search, but family member Sadie Ditts told a national news outlet that it was her niece, Rebecca Kimberly.

Dilts said in the telephone interview that Rebecca Kimberly’s body was found about 44 miles off the coast.

"As a father of four, I know how devastating these findings are to them, and we're cognizant of that and we're trying to treat them with the utmost respect," Case said. “This is still an ongoing search and rescue. We still have three persons out there that we’re trying desperately to locate. We are doing everything we can and throwing everything we have at this search at this time."

Search crews said they also found a yellow kayak that fits the description of the one that was being towed behind the sailboat.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Cox Media Group