CLEARWATER, Fla. – Crewmembers from Coast Guard Station Sand Key, in Clearwater, Fla., rescued two boaters from the water in the vicinity of Clearwater Beach at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
A good Samaritan called Coast Guard watchstanders at about 12:50 p.m., Saturday, reporting he had come upon a 23-foot, center-console boat that was going in circles with no one aboard about three miles west of Clearwater Pass. The good Samaritan was able stop the vessel’s engine and, in doing so, located a wallet on board belonging to one of the missing boaters.
Two 25-foot response boats from Coast Guard Station Sand Key arrived on scene at about 1:15 p.m. and began searching for the missing boaters.
Gary Allan Platt, 54, of Clearwater, was pulled from the water about five-miles west of Clearwater Beach at 2:10 p.m. George Johnson, 44, of Palm Harbor, Fla., was rescued about a half-mile away from Platt at 2:26 p.m. Neither men were wearing a lifejacket.
Johnson reported that he was suffering from moderate hypothermia. Both men were brought to awaiting EMS at Coast Guard Station Sand Key at 2:50 p.m., and were taken to Largo Medical Center at 3 p.m.
According to Platt, the men were ejected from the boat when it hit a wave, and they had been in the water since about 11 a.m. Saturday. The vessel was brought to Station Sand Key.
