Texas ? Four college students and a safety officer floated for more than a day in choppy seas, sharing four life vests after their sailboat capsized during a regatta on the Gulf of Mexico, authorities said Sunday. The body of a second safety officer was removed from the boat later.

The safety officer who survived kept the group together in the water and used a flashlight to signal Coast Guard searchers, said R. Bowen Loftin, CEO of Texas A&M at Galveston, which three of the students attended.

The survivors were at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and were in good condition with sunburn and dehydration, Loftin said.

A helicopter crew from Air Station Houston pulled the five men from the water 23 miles south of Freeport, Texas, Petty Officer Renee C. Aiello said Sunday. They had drifted about five miles northwest of their capsized boat.