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CLEARWATER (Florida) - TWO National Football League players remained missing on Monday off the western Florida coast after a member of their fishing party was recovered by the US Coast Guard.
Nick Schuyler was found alive and clinging to a capsized boat that had been missing in rough seas since early Sunday morning but the locations of three other former University of South Florida gridiron players remain unknown.
Detroit Lions defensive end Corey Smith, Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper and Will Bleakley were also among those being sought by the Coast Guard in the Gulf of Mexico.
'The search is ongoing,' US Coast Guard captain Tim Close said. 'We're looking for some more information from Mr Schuyler in regard to our search.' Mr Schuyler was awake and alert and spoke with his rescuers, saying the boat was overturned by a huge wave and all four passengers had been wearing life vests and were clinging for life aboard the overturned boat.
'At some point the other three gentlemen became separated from the boat,' Close said.
Mr Schuyler, 27, was taken from the 21-foot vessel onto a Coast Guard ship about 50km west of St Petersburg, examined by medical personnel and transported by air to Tampa General Hospital.
'The boat was overturned and he was on top of the boat,' Close said. 'We flew him off fairly quickly.' Coast Guard officials adjusted their search area based upon the discovery, with three airplanes, two helicopters, a US Air Force plane and numerous boats having already searched more than 16,000 square miles for the men.
Officials said the fishing boat left Clearwater at approximately 6.30am local time on Saturday and did not return at its scheduled time later on Saturday.
Wind gusts up to 72kmh and waves reaching up to 10 feet had hampered the search, according to the Coast Guard.
Smith and Cooper were teammates with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2004 season. Cooper, 26, played in eight games with the Raiders last year. He has played in 42 career games over parts of five seasons with seven different teams. Smith, 29, appeared in 12 games with the Lions this past season, his seventh in the NFL. -- AFP
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