U.S. Coast Guard Rescues 2 of 6 Missing Boaters

MIAMI, FL, September 25, 2007 (USCG)- The Coast Guard has rescued two of the six missing boaters Monday after they departed Miami en route Bimini, Bahamas Saturday afternoon on a 47-foot sport fisher.

The names of the rescued are Guillermo Zarabozo and Kirby Archer.

Missing are Jake Branam, captain of the vessel Joe Cool and his crew, Kelly Branam, Scott Campbell and Sammy Cary.

Family members reported the vessel overdue at approximately 5:45 p.m. Sunday after the vessel failed to return to Miami Beach Marina at its scheduled time.

The Joe Cool was found by crewmembers of the cutter Pea Island late Sunday evening 160 miles south of Bimini. Boarding team members from the Pea Island discovered the abandoned vessel in disarray with the life-raft missing.

Zarabozo and Archer were found by an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter approximately 12 miles north of that location and taken to the cutter Confidence.

According to the Global Positioning System on board the vessel, the Joe Cool made several erratic movements and began heading south about halfway into their voyage.

The Coast Guard immediately began searching with a HC-130 aircraft from Elizabeth City, N.C., the Cutter Confidence, the Cutter Pea Island and an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Miami deployed to the Confidence.

The Cutter Pea Island is a 110-foot patrol boat homeported in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Cutter Confidence is a 210-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Port Canaveral, Fla.