Miraculous story of survival
MIAMI (AP) - Seven people, including a 4-year-old girl, survived 20 hours at sea by clinging to their capsized boat and a small blue cooler after their vessel flipped during a fishing trip off the Florida Keys, officials said Monday.
An 80-year-old woman who was with the group is missing and presumed drowned.
Three other women on board told rescuers they didn't have time to grab life jackets for anyone except the girl when two waves suddenly flipped the boat off Long Key in choppy, rainy waters Saturday afternoon, Seaman Kendra Graves said.
Three men on board tried to help the 80-year-old woman, but she went under the water within minutes of the 22-foot-long boat capsizing, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Spokesman Robert Dube.
"She was one of men's mother - he could not hold onto his mother and she went under," Dube said.
At some point, the boaters drifted apart - three women and the girl hanging on to the cooler; three men holding on to the boat.
A commercial fisherman spotted the capsized boat Sunday morning, Dube said, and rescued the men clinging to its bow. The women and girl were soon picked up by the Coast Guard, several miles from where the boat had capsized.
The group of women started waving and yelling for help when they saw the Coast Guard vessel, Graves said.
"They were hanging onto the cooler. It was afloat but its main purpose was to keep them together," Graves said. Once aboard, the women asked about the men.
"They wanted to know, `Where are our husbands?"' Graves said.
RecommendedRecent Facebook Activity
Only On 7
-
Fall Events Guide
Head out with the family to one of the many fall festivals dominating this month's weekends.
TBD Blogs What you need to read
-
@TBD Arts
Brooks Brothers' Georgetown store: no falling toilets
-
The Market Report
Giant promises to open all lanes in Columbia Heights
-
@TBD On Foot
A pox on Washington, D.C.'s Beltway speed demons
Best of TBD In case you missed it
-
Dogs in Halloween Costumes
Creativity knows no bounds when the costume-wearer doesn't have a say in the matter.

No comments
Post a Comment