FILE VIDEO: The U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Clearwater rescued a man and his dog from a disabled sailboat on Thursday during Hurricane Helene. The 36-foot sailboat was taking on water approximately 25 miles off Sanibel Island, Florida.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Two empty life rafts found off the Florida coast are causing U.S. Coast Guard officials to seek more information about where the flotation devices came from.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville, a surveying vessel found the empty life rafts on Sunday, each with the capacity to hold 10 to 25 people, about 20 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral.
Life rafts found about 20 miles off Cape Canaveral, Florida.
(US Coast Guard Jacksonville)
“The life rafts appear to be unused and seem to have been activated offshore Cape Canaveral, as indicated by the tracking device on board,” the USCG Jacksonville wrote on Facebook. “The details of the life rafts suggest a possible Search and Rescue (SAR) or military training exercise.”
With no other information, the Coast Guard said they treated the situation as a possible search and research scenario. After an active search on Sunday, teams suspended the search because the rafts didn’t appear to have been used for distress.
USCG Sector Jacksonville has the rafts and will run tests on them on Monday.
Anyone with information regarding these life rafts is asked to contact the Sector Jacksonville Command Center at 904-714-7500.