NFL players Corey Smith and Marquis Cooper Lost at Sea

No sign of the two missing NFL players or their
boat had been spotted by the US Coast Guard by
Sunday night.The men have gone missing in the
Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast.


The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a fishing boat
carrying Detroit Lions defensive Corey Smith
and Oakland Raiders backliner Marquis Cooper
and two other men. The two others on board have
been identified as Will Bleakley and Nick
Schuyler, both former University of South
Florida players.

They left on a fishing trip in a 21-foot boat
(6.5-meters) at about 6.30am from Clearwater
Pass, Florida on Saturday February 28. When
they did not return home as expected on
Saturday evening, the Coast Guard was alerted
and a search commenced.


A helicopter and a 26-meter boat are being used to

hunt for the missing vessel in an area of about

750 square miles. Bad weather is hampering matters
somewhat. Late Saturday swells had increased to
1.5 meters and the wind had reached 20 knots in
the afternoon.

Cooper and Smith have been on fishing trips
together before and have some experience of the
coastal conditions. Relatives provided the Coast Guard with GPS

co-ordinates from previous fishing expeditions
with the hope that the players would go to the
same destination.

No distress signal was received from the
missing vessel, but according to a Coast Guard
official that does not necessarily mean that
the men didn't send one.

"We didn't receive a distress signal, " he said.

The search continues for the men continues.