A 10-year-old boy hugs his father after being rescued by the Coast Guard, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, 24 miles southwest of Matanzas Pass Preserve, Fla. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Castelletti.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Coast Guard rescued four boaters Sunday 24 miles southwest of Matanzas Pass Preserve.
Watch standers from Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg received multiple mayday calls at 12:20 p.m. Sunday via VHF-FM marine radio channel 16. Watch standers obtained an approximate location of distress using the Rescue 21 system and launched a 45-foot Response Boat–Medium boat crew from Coast Guard Station Fort Myers Beach.
A good Samaritan in the area overheard a faint distress call and relayed the information to the watch standers. Using the new information, the boat crew was able to pinpoint the location of distress.
The boat crew arrived on scene at 1:11 p.m. and found three adults and one child clinging to the hull of their 27-foot boat. All four were wearing lifejackets. The rescue crew pulled them from the capsized boat and took them to Station Fort Myers Beach.
“I want to thank the good Samaritan aboard the fishing boat Great Get Away,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Philip Lengyel, search and rescue controller at Sector St. Petersburg. “We were able to locate exactly where this family was and rescue them quickly because of his assistance relaying communications.”
There are no reported injuries, and the boat remains capsized and adrift.
