Who Are the Three U.S. Sailors Missing From Mexico?

Search efforts are ongoing for three "experienced" American sailors who disappeared earlier this month off the coast of Mexico.

On April 14, the U.S. Coast Guard said it was looking for three American sailors, in a coordinated effort with the Mexican Navy.

Kerry O'Brien, Frank O'Brien and William Gross were last heard from on April 4, close to the city of Mazatlán on Mexico's western coast. They had departed from the city on a 44-foot vessel named "Ocean Bound," the Coast Guard added, which was bound for San Diego, California.

But the sailors didn't arrive at a planned stop two days after leaving Mexico, authorities and relatives said. The vessel was scheduled to arrive at Cabo San Lucas for supplies and to "report in" on April 6 before continuing on the journey to the U.S.

"There was no record of them arriving in Cabo San Lucas or a report in of their location," the Coast Guard said.

The U.S. Coast Guard told Newsweek Tuesday that there was no new information concerning the ongoing search, and it remained the "assisting agency."

The weather conditions off Mazaltán during the last known contact from the sailors were 30 knot winds and 15-20 foot swells, the Coast Guard added.

Rescue services have been in touch with marinas in the area, but there have been no sightings of the missing vessel. Urgent broadcasts have encouraged mariners to watch out for the missing sailors, the Coast Guard added.

Kerry's brother, Mark Argall, said Kerry and Frank, a husband-and-wife team, both held captain's licenses with the U.S. Coast Guard, with their friend William, also known as Bill, having decades of sailing experience.

"Kerry, Frank and Bill are all experienced sailors, Bill has over 50 years of sailing experience and is an extremely talented coastal cruiser," he wrote on his Facebook page. William Gross' daughter, Melissa Spicuzza, told NBC 7 San Diego that "there are almost 100 years of experience among them combined on that boat."

He "loves the ocean," Spicuzza said of her father, adding: "He loves sailing so any opportunity that he has to be on the water, he will take."

Speaking to the media, Argall said after a week of no contact from his sibling, the family began to grow more worried.

"When it started to reach into five, six, seven days and we started to get a little more concerned," he told ABC News.

On April 15, Argall wrote on his Facebook page that "we still do not know much," adding his sibling and brother-in-law's disappearance "has now reached the level of national news."

"Hopefully that will bring the attention needed to find them and get them home safely," he wrote in his latest update online.

Speaking to CBS News, Kerry's mother, Ellen Argall, said she had been in "agony, pure agony" since their disappearance.

"I've been trying to hold myself together," she said, adding her daughter is a "survivor and she's physically strong."

She continued: "If anybody can survive this, they can."

The areas through which the vessel had likely traveled are not densely populated and lacked communication infrastructure, making contact difficult, U.S. Coast Guard commander center chief Gregory Higgins said.

Update 04/19/2023, 4:16 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from the U.S. Coast Guard.