They kept their bodies alive with rationed crackers, bubble gum, beer and three gallons of water. But spiritually, the three men lost at sea for eight days had something else to keep them going. "We just kept praying, and we kept hope alive," rescued boater Tressel Hawkins told CNN on Monday. "Even though hope had managed to thread down to a little bitty string, I mean, that little bitty string could be just as strong as the rope you hung ...

A day after the U.S. Coast Guard said it was suspending its weeklong search for three missing boaters, the men were found alive Saturday night. The Tibetan spiritual leader boarded a plane in New Delhi, India, early Sunday morning ET. He is expected to return to India on September 4. Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said last week that he approved the Dalai Lama's visit to the typhoon-battered island. Typhoon Morakot slammed into Taiwan on August 8 ...

They were there for the view -- spectators awed by a vista of massive waves smashing against the rocky shore. But then one wave struck violently, sweeping three people into the churning ocean, one of them a 7-year-old girl. What spectator Mary Ellen Martel saw next were bodies bobbing along in the frothy waters. And in a heartbeat, a day of spectacular surf turned tragic. Watch a dramatic rescue at sea » Thousands of people ...

A man who crashed his plane in the Florida Panhandle in an apparent attempt to fake his death was sentenced Wednesday to more than four years in federal prison, officials said. Marcus Schrenker, 38, of McCordsville, Indiana, pleaded guilty in June to charges of destruction of an aircraft and causing the Coast Guard to respond when no help is needed. He was sentenced to 51 months in prison Wednesday, said a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in the ...

A group of hunters aboard a small boat out of the tiny Alaska village of Wainwright were the first to spot what would eventually be called "the blob." It was a dark, floating mass stretching for miles through the Chukchi Sea, a frigid and relatively shallow expanse of Arctic Ocean water between Alaska's northwest coast and the Russian Far East. The goo was fibrous, hairy. When it touched floating ice, it looked almost black. But what was it An ...

At least 10 people were killed, and an unknown number remained missing Wednesday, after a boat authorities believe was used for human smuggling capsized off the coast of Florida. Almost all of the victims are believed to be from Haiti and the Bahamas, according to the U.S. Coast Guard -- which said a dangerous number of people was packed onto a small pleasure cruiser. The Coast Guard said it rescued 26 people from the boat, and searchers didn't know how ...

Officials will remove oil from two massive storage tanks near the base of erupting Mount Redoubt in Alaska, a spokesman said Friday. As the volcano continues to spew ash across Alaska's Cook Inlet, U.S. Coast Guard officials said they will begin to transfer oil from the Drift River facility to get to a "safe" level. Coast Guard Officer Sara Francis said the oil is being reduced to protect against "the potential threat by the volcanic activity" and the potential effect ...

Clinging to an overturned boat for two days, Nick Schuyler kept going back to one thought: he didn't want his mother to attend his funeral, Schuyler's doctor told reporters Wednesday. "He was in the water for about 46-47 hours," said Dr. Mark Rumbak, a pulmonary/critical care specialist at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Florida. "He alternated from being in the water and on top of the boat. He kept falling in." Schuyler was plucked from the Gulf of Mexico ...

The Coast Guard ended its search Tuesday for two professional football players and a third man lost at sea, leaving the families to cope with unknown fates of the men and to organize a private search. "There's a lot of things we have to come to grips with -- we've all agreed unanimously we won't give up hope," said Bruce Cooper, father of Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper. Cooper, NFL free agent Corey Smith and former college football player William ...

Rescuers are using computer models to try to find three missing boaters, including two NFL players, off the Florida coast Tuesday, the Coast Guard said. The search has passed 48 hours. The boaters went missing Saturday after embarking on a fishing trip. Still missing early Tuesday were Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper and NFL free agent Corey Smith, who played for the Detroit Lions for the past three seasons. Also missing was William Bleakley, a former University of South Florida ...