iPhone May Solve Mystery Of Teens Lost At Sea

A rusty iPhone may provide clues to the disappearance of two teenagers whose boat was found washed up 1,000 miles away off Bermuda.

Experts at Apple are to examine the phone to try to find out what happened to Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, who were last seen on 24 July when they left Jupiter, Florida, for a fishing trip.

The 14-year-olds were spotted in distress on the day of their disappearance and there was another sighting two days later, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) said.

It has released video footage of the boys sailing out of Jupiter Inlet Light for the trip.

Two days later, a pilot involved in the search was flying off the Georgia coast when he saw two pieces of white debris tied together with an orange life jacket.

He flew lower and saw someone waving their hands.

He climbed to 1,500ft so he could radio controllers and when he went back down he could no longer find the make-shift raft.

The Coast Guard searched the area and could not find anything.

Then, last month, a Norwegian freighter spotted the boys' upturned boat off Bermuda.

There was no trace of the boys, but Austin's rusty iPhone 6 was found in the 19ft-long vessel.

On Friday, nine months after their disappearance, the teenagers' families agreed to allow Apple to examine the phone's data.

Perry's mother had sued Austin's parents and the FWC to have the phone examined by an independent third party after the commission released it to the Stephanos family.

Investigators tried to use phone records to track down the teens' location but were told they needed a search warrant.

"Phone records did not show the text, data information and cell tower information needed to locate phone," a 128-page report by the FWC said.

"Family asked AT&T and they were denied, saying they would have to have a law enforcement subpoena."

Since the search was not part of a criminal investigation, Snapchat, Instagram and AT&T would not release information from the phone.

The fishing boat was taken to Norway, and is now on its way back to Florida.