BRUNSWICK, Ga. — "He loves life. Loves family. Loves fishing," Tyler Barlow’s parents smile as they described their 24-year-old son Tuesday.
Kim Jones and Chris Barlow told First Coast News he just recently started pursuing commercial fishing as a job.
This trip with Captain Dalton and Caleb Wilkerson was his fifth trip out to fish.
The three young men left the Mary Ross Waterfront Park in Brunswick, Georgia, Saturday October 14th. They were supposed to come back either last Wednesday or Thursday, but they never did.
"I personally believe that the boat has had some kind of mechanical or possibly electrical issues," Chris Barlow said.
According to the Coast Guard, rescue crews have been searching for the 31-foot-long fishing boat that the three young men were in. Crews have been scouring off the Georgia and South Carolina coasts by water and air.
Barlow’s mother said she received word from a sailboat captain early Tuesday morning.
That captain says she and her crew saw two emergency flares Saturday night at 10:35 and 10:40 about 230 miles off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.
When they saw the flares, Jones said, "These individuals on this vessel started an emergency search. They have everything logged. The went into search mode." Barlow added, "They searched the area for four hours. They placed a VHF call into the Coast Guard."
The sailboat’s crew searched the area for hours, but they found nothing and believed the search to be in the hands of the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard has not confirmed to First Coast News that it has searched that area 230 miles off of Charleston. However, it did say there was a Space X launch Saturday. Indeed, there was, at 10:17 p.m. but the captain told Jones the flares were several minutes later at 10:35 and 10:40.
Barlow's father said it heard the Coast Guard was planning to stop the search Tuesday evening, and then was told the Navy sent in more resources to continue the search. First Coast News could not confirm that with the Coast Guard.
The families of the missing boaters want the search for their loved ones to continue.
Barlow said, "This isn’t just a missing boat out there." Jones picked up the thought and said, "This is our boy… and it’s also two other boys. This is Dalton, This is Caleb. These are three very young men that have a lot of life ahead of them."
There is a GoFundMe page set up to help with search expenses. Click here for that page.