US rescuers to halt search for missing crew in high-seas mystery

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2007

MIAMI (AFP) — The US Coast Guard on Thursday suspended its search for crew of a charter fishing boat missing in a high-seas mystery that involves claims of piracy and murder and the arrest of two men.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the crew of the Joe Cool," said Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Chris O'Neil, in reference to the four men missing at sea while their two customers, found drifting in a life raft, are behind bars in Miami.

"Our decision to suspend the search is made in light of our confidence that if the crew of the Joe Cool was in the areas we searched, we would have found them," said O'Neil.

The bizarre saga that reads like a crime novel started on Saturday, when Kirby Archer, 35, and Guillermo Zarabozo, 19,...