Search back on for two men

TAMPA -- The search has resumed for two missing men whose single-engine plane disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico, this time by the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.

The U.S. Coast Guard had been searching for Zachary Schlitt, 28, of West Palm Beach and Darien Peckham, 34, of Tampa, since their plane disappeared 20 miles southwest of Yankeetown on Sunday. The Citrus County Sheriff, which owns sonar equipment that can find submerged objects, joined the search on Monday afternoon.

At 5:40 p.m Tuesday, 48 hours after the men disappeared, the Coast Guard officials said they were stopping the search pending further developments.

Just before noon Wednesday, three Citrus County Sheriff's deputies resumed their search. Tuesday's search conditions were "truly terrible," said Citrus Sheriff spokeswoman Gail Tierney, adding that there were six-foot seas and water visibility of less than a foot.

"They are stil out there as we speak," said Gail Tierney, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. "They wanted to at least give it another shot."

Until Tuesday evening, the Coast Guard crews searched for the men for more than 40 hours over a 2,800-square mile area focusing on two areas where a seat and a flight bag containing aviation headphones were found. There was no sign of the men or their plane.

The two were traveling in a small Tampa-bound plane when, at about 6:45 p.m Sunday, an air traffic controller in Jacksonville reported that their 35-year-old twin-engine, fixed-wing Beech 35 Debonair aircraft, traveling from Tallahassee to Vandenberg Airport, lost contact, according to the FAA. The Coast Guard says the plane crashed into the gulf shortly after disappearing from radar.