The United States Coast Guard rescued five men stranded in the ocean 11 miles off the coast of Florida. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville received an emergency call just after 10 a.m. on Sunday (July 7) morning about a capsized boat and dispatched a boat and aircraft to locate the men.
When the rescue crew arrived, they found five men huddled atop the capsized boat. The men were all wearing life jackets, which saved their lives after their 24-foot fishing vessel overturned.
The Coast Guard pulled the men to their vessel and brought them back to shore, where they were reunited with their families.
The men told WJTX they were on top of their boat for about an hour until another fishing boat found them. The crew of the other boat waited with them until the Coast Guard arrived.
The men said they believed the bilge pump malfunctioned, causing their boat to take on water.
“I started to realize where the motor is at in the back of the boat is like something is not right,” Mohammad El Itani told the news station. “So, I told my son-in-law to get a bucket, get ready. We started to scoop some water or something.”
The men said that despite their ordeal, they have no reservations about heading back into the ocean to go fishing.
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