3 Lost When NFL Boat Flipped: Survivor

Survivor told Coast Guard companions 'freaked out,' threw punches

(NEWSER) - Two NFL players may have died only hours after the boat they and two friends were on capsized, according to a Coast Guard report released to the AP. Sole survivor David Schuyler told the Coast Guard that one man "freaked out," took off his life vest, and disappeared after clinging to the boat for hours, while another later became unruly, threw punches, and took off his jacket before vanishing. More»

(NEWSER) - The fishing boat that capsized earlier this month leaving three football players presumed dead was improperly anchored, the AP reports. After interviewing the lone survivor, a Florida agency has determined that when the passengers attempted to free the anchor by gunning the boat’s motor, the craft was swamped and the men thrown into the water. Inexperience, carelessness, and an approaching storm were also cited. More»

(NEWSER) - The apparent lone survivor of the boat accident that has left three football players missing gave investigators a harrowing version of his ordeal, the St. Petersburg Times reports. Nick Schuyler says the two NFL players with him gave up hope within hours of each other, stripped off their life jackets, and drifted off to sea. The third man, a former college player, swam away from the overturned boat two days later to get help when he thought he saw a light. More»

10-foot seas, 40-mph winds, hypothermia threaten

(NEWSER) - People may imagine the Gulf of Mexico as a “pond,” but they’ve never seen it “get nasty” in a cold front, writes Terry Tomalin in the St. Petersburg Times. Boaters, like the missing NFL players, can face 10-foot seas and and 40-mph winds. “All it takes is one 8-foot wave to swamp a boat,” and then hypothermia looms, with offshore water temps in the mid to low 60s. "Even in a wetsuit, you will become chilled within an hour." More»

Coast Guard search was called off yesterday, and they were presumed dead

(AP) - The families of the missing football players aren't giving up. Private boats and planes were searching today for two NFL players and a third man after the Coast Guard called off its search yesterday. The men—Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith and former South Florida player William Bleakley—went missing four days ago, when their boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico. More»