Authorities said an investigation is continuing into the death of a man who disappeared from a charter boat on Biscayne Bay over the weekend, as his family and friends are seeking answers.
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According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a group of eight passengers and one operator were aboard a chartered 39-foot vessel on Friday.
While traveling from Hobie Beach toward the Miami River, one of the passengers noticed someone was missing from the vessel and a search was conducted.
The vessel’s captain notified law enforcement, and local agencies continued the search.
The U.S. Coast Guard said they were notified at around 11:59 p.m. Friday of a missing person suspected to be in the water who was last seen on the vessel as it was south of Brickell Key and Hobie Island Beach Park.
On Sunday, a person’s body was recovered from the water, officials said.
Authorities haven’t released the identity of the person whose body was found but family members identified him as 23-year-old Akin Liverpool.
Miami Police had previously issued a missing persons flyer after Liverpool disappeared on Friday night after going out on a charter boat for a friend’s birthday.
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Friend Dasia Bryant said she was on the phone with Liverpool while he was on the boat.
“He said he was having fun and he said that he was going to call me when he left from the boat and ever since then I didn’t hear nothing from him,” Bryant told NBC6.
She said Liverpool sent her a photo while he was on the boat but hours later she stopped hearing from him.
“After that I didn’t hear nothing from him. That was my last conversation with him,” she said.
Family members said they’ve tried to get in touch with the girls who were on the boat at the time of the incident to find out what happened, but they haven’t been able to reach any of them and they said their social media accounts have been deactivated.
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The FWC said an active investigation was ongoing.