Couple Treaded Water for 14 Hours Without Life Jackets Off Florida Coast: 'It's A Miracle,' Says Rescuer
A couple treaded water for 14 hours about seven miles off the Fort Lauderdale, Florida coast before being pulled into a passing boat in what the rescuers are calling "a miracle." The two people had fallen off their boat in Key Largo at about 6 p.m. Friday, but managed to hail help with a white t-shirt Saturday morning.
The couple that treaded water for 14 hours is Sean McGovern, 50 and Mellisa Morris, 52, according to CNN. They weren't wearing life jackets when McGovern said they "fell" off the 30-foot boat, and because the boat was in gear, they couldn't do anything as the boat pulled off. To make matters worse the pair had no signaling gear to flag down anyone in the open waters.
Saturday morning at about 8 a.m., two detectives from the Broward County Police Department, a local firefighter and one of the officers' father-in-law went fishing and saw splashing in the water. They dragged them into the boat and turned them over to the U.S. Coast Guard.
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"It was a miracle they were able to tread water that long and were safely recovered," U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Mark Barney told CNN. He said they escaped their ordeal with only some jellyfish stings and mild hypothermia.
One of the rescuers, detective Josh Webb, said that Morris couldn't even move by the time she was pulled into the boat— "another 30 minutes to an hour" and they may not have survived, he said.
Only two or three boats were even on the water that morning, making the couple's rescue even more unlikely. McGovern had been trying to wave down boats with a white t-shirt that he had.
"Personally, I was surprised," Steve Couch, who helped pull the exhausted pair into the boat, told WSVN news. "I was amazed that they lasted that long in the water. I've just never seen something like that before."
"Well, maybe God put us over there to save them, you know? Who knows why?" he added.
