First responders and Tampa Bay Harbor pilots rescued three people from the water after their boat capsized Saturday evening.
It happened as the sun was setting near Gadsden Point.
“The water is 64 degrees here. Hypothermia can set in very quickly. Even though we are in Florida, hypothermia can set in,” said M S, a Tampa Bay Harbor Pilot.
The FWC said their boat was impacted by a wake from a cruise ship in the harbor. People on a cruise ship noticed the boaters in the water and notified the crew. S and D H were piloting a third ship, a Royal Caribbean cruise, when they heard about the incident.
“Our ship was going very fast when we sighted these people, so by the time we were able to communicate to the crew of the cruise ship and get the ship stopped, we were a good way past the victims in the water,” H said.
The cruise line deployed its ‘man overboard’ crew to assist.
The two pilots contacted the St. Petersburg Sector of the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as M R, who was piloting a smaller cargo ship behind the cruise.
“The sun had already set. It was twilight. They were basically like shadows in the water,” R said. “Though I was on scene looking for them, I was afraid of running them over as well.”
R was determined to locate them.
“What we didn’t know, the two people in the water were swimming and they swam towards the buoy,” he said.
A few minutes later, R spotted two of the boaters hanging onto the buoy about 200 yards away from debris from their boat. By that time, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, the Coast Guard, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office arrived on boats.
The third person was located and rescued shortly before first responders could get to the other two hanging onto the buoy.
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source: fox13news
