Missing snorkelers found 40 miles off Key West

Search efforts were initiated Tuesday by the Coast Guard Station Key West, helicopter crews from Air Station Miami and boat crews from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Chief Petty Officer Nyx Cangemi says a Coast Guard plane spotted the boat Wednesday afternoon about 40 miles northwest of Key West.

Authorities said the family was in good spirits and good health when they were found.

By 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Cost Guard said they found a boat with four people on board, and later confirmed it was the missing family. They were supposed to return by 4 p.m.

A concerned family member contacted the Coast Guard Tuesday evening after David Thompson, 48, Adam Kelley, 28, Joshua Thompson, 15, and Evan Thompson, 11, did not return from their trip. All are from the Orlando area except Evan Thompson, who is from Gainesville, Cangemi said.

The search continues Wednesday morning on Lake Erie for a missing fisherman.

Four boaters missing since Tuesday afternoon were found nearly 24 hours later, safe, aboard their disabled vessel by a U.S. Coast Guard air crew.