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29. April 2022 – 12:15 watch
They drift aimlessly in the sea. Clinging to just a life jacket. At 7:32 p.m. local time on April 25, a boat trip in the Sunshine State of Florida threatens to turn into an absolute nightmare for a man and woman. Luckily for them both, a Marine unit from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is patrolling Tampa Bay and rushing to the rescue. But pulling the completely exhausted castaways on board is anything but easy, as the bodycam recordings in our video show.
“You have a really mean boat”
“It’s going to be hard coming up here,” the men call out to the woman in the water from above. But in the end both make it onto the rescue vehicle. “You have a really mean boat there,” jokes the rescued man again. The situation is under control.
As the British Daily Mail reports, the two were very fortunate in their misfortune. Because she herself and her boat, which had just become unfit to drive, were quickly discovered. The two adults were drifting a good 180 meters away from the ship in the sea, another person was still on board, according to the HCSO Marine Unit report.
After being rescued, the shipwrecked were taken back to their boat. The luck of the shipwrecked did not end, because they were able to start it again and headed back to the marina.
Sheriff Chad Chronicler; “It could have ended very differently”
Even if the two of them got away with being scared: The danger was serious and the whole thing could have ended fatally. The local sheriff Chad Chronister knows this and expresses his sincere thanks to the marine unit. “If they hadn’t been on patrol, it could have ended very differently,” he explains, asking the boaters to take their rescue as a warning as well.
Because the fact that the two were only traveling with a single life jacket was more than careless. After all, everyone on board should have a life-saving vest in case of an emergency.
And with summer approaching, Chronister warns: “I would like to remind all boaters to ensure their boats are in good condition and please wear a life jacket at all times. These simple rules can mean the difference between a nice day on the water or a… Tragedy.” (gdu)