The search for two missing fishermen identified as 57-year-old Randall Spivey and 33-year-old Brandon Billmaier is underway after their boat was found without them on board.
Spivey and Billmaier went fishing off the coast of Fort Meyers, Florida, on Friday.
Billmaier’s wife wrote in a social media post shared by Semafor White House correspondent Shelby Talcott that her husband and his uncle, Spivey, left early Friday morning and were expected to return in the afternoon.
As of 7:30 p.m. Friday, the two had not returned, and their family had not heard from them.
Billmaier’s wife said at approximately 11 p.m. the U.S. Coast Guard deployed a helicopter. At 1:30 a.m. Saturday, the family received a call that Spivey and Billmaier’s vessel was found 70 miles off the coast, but the men were not aboard.
Riley Perkofski, a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Coast Guard Southeast District, confirmed to Fox News Digital that the boat was still running when it was located.
“The boat was in gear,” Perkofski said. “We deployed a swimmer, and then the swimmer deployed the vessel’s anchor so that it wouldn’t keep moving.”
The family is hoping that more people will be able to join the rescue effort and is asking for those who are willing and able to reach out. Spivey and Billmaier’s family asks those who cannot aid in the rescue to keep the men in their prayers.
“We’ve gotta find them. Please. Please, please find them,” Tricia Spivey, Randall’s wife, said, according to WBBH-TV. “They’re amazing people. I mean, I, I don’t know, I just — I just need him back. He needs to come back to us.”
On Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard said it was leading the search and asked for anyone with information to call U.S. Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg at 866-881-1392.
By Saturday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard said crews were conducting search and rescue operations across a wide area — about 35 miles in all directions — from the ocean’s surface up to roughly 5,000 feet in the air. Officials also warned aircraft in the area to “maintain situational awareness” and avoid interfering with search and rescue crews.
Spivey is a 6-foot-1 man with brown hair and brown eyes, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. He was last seen wearing khaki pants and a dark-colored shirt.
Billmaier is 6-foot-2 and has strawberry hair and brown eyes. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office did not describe what the 33-year-old was last seen wearing.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office directed Fox News Digital to the U.S. Coast Guard for additional updates.
