(Reuters) – Search crews were scouring the waters off the Florida coast early on Wednesday for a man and his three teenage children who were reported missing after setting off on a 29-foot-sailboat (9-meter) three days ago, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The family, including the father, two boys aged 13 and 15 and a 17-year-old girl, were last seen on Sunday morning, when they set sail from Sarasota, Florida, and were headed to Fort Myers, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Later that day, the father phoned his brother from the boat and told him he was struggling with six-foot-waves and “attempting to survive with his children” offshore of Englewood, a community about 30 miles south of Sarasota, the Coast Guard said.

The family, who was not named, were traveling to Fort Myers to have the boat repaired, the Coast Guard said.

At first light on Wednesday, the Coast Guard sent an HC-130 Hercules rescue aircrew to resume its search for the missing family, it said on Twitter.

Several state and local maritime emergency responders have also been involved in the search.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Bernadette Baum)