Missing Texas boaters found alive

HOUSTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Three fishermen missing since Aug. 21 have been found alive nearly 180 miles off the coast of Texas, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

A pleasure boat found the men sitting atop the hull of their capsized 23-foot catamaran Saturday evening, the Houston Chronicle reported Sunday.

The search for the Texas men was canceled Friday after boats and planes from Texas, Florida and Alabama looked for them in an area the size of Minnesota, Coast Guard officials said.

James Phillips, 30, of Blessing; Curt Hall, 28, of Palacios; and Tressell Hawkins, 42, of Markham were dehydrated and hungry but in otherwise decent health, said Phillips' wife, Shane, who was preparing to tell their five children the search had been canceled when her husband called.

"I didn't have to tell my kids that I didn't know when their daddy was coming home," she said, "I got to tell them that I'm bringing him home tonight."