PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. — (WESH) Authorities say they have searched thousands square miles of ocean for two firefighters who disappeared after setting out from Port Canaveral on a fishing trip.
Brian McCluney and Justin Walker were last seen leaving the 300 Christopher Columbus Boat Ramp on Friday around 11 a.m.
Officials said the pair were believed to have gone offshore around 30 miles and were expected to return around 6 p.m.
They were boating toward a fishing spot known as 8A reef. McCluney works for the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, and Justin Walker is a master technician for the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department in Virginia. The Jacksonville Fire Department said 50 of its firefighters are assisting on 11 boats.
The Coast Guard said an aircraft reported seeing a boat matching the one the pair was in around 50 miles east of Jacksonville on Sunday.
According to officials, a search plane spotted a cooler and life jackets. Multiple crews have been dispatched to search that area.
The Coast Guard said when they arrived to the search area, the debris found was not related to the boaters.
Crews are expanding search patterns in that area.
The men were on a boat that belonged to McCluney’s late father, who passed away last month.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the United States Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville Command Center at 904-714-7558.
The Jacksonville Association of Fire Fighters set up a donation website Sunday for people to help with a search that has extended from Port Canaveral to north of Jacksonville and 80 miles off shore.
Justin Walker and Brian McCluney left around 11 a.m. on Friday from a boat ramp in Port Canaveral.
Stephanie McCluney, the wife of Brian McCluney, said she and are keeping faith the two men will be OK.
“We have great faith and hope that they are floating on the boat just waiting for someone to find them,” McCluney said.
“There is an army out there looking so I am confident. Very, very confident,” she said.
The men’s family’s said they are confident the men know what to do to survive.
“Brian is survival trained through the military, Navy. I know Justin is probably one of the most resourceful men I’ve also ever met. If there were ever two men that you would want to be stuck anywhere with, it’d be these two,” McCluney said.