Good Samaritans speak out after helping rescue 2 teens stuck at sea
A trio of good Samaritans is speaking out after helping rescue two teenagers who became stranded at sea during a paddle boarding trip.
Captain Will Pauling, Alex Jeffries and Russ Coon joined the search for the 16-year-old girls and spotted them on an oyster reef Tuesday morning, nearly a day after the young women left the Cedar Key Fishing Pier north of Tampa Monday afternoon.
"As we're moving along, Alex saw something on shore and said, 'Hey, that looks like a raft,'" Coon recalled. "And as we pointed the boat towards the girls, they stood up and started waving at us, and then clearly, we waved back."
The teens were found about 14 miles from the pier, according to police, who said they believe strong winds and waves may have caused them to drift out to sea.
"I think the high tide kind of pushed them up into that area, which was, I believe, around 4:30 this morning, and kind of held onto that island, and that's where we found them," Pauling added.
Multiple agencies and teams joined in the search for the teens after their loved ones called 911 when they didn't return to the pier on Monday.
"The number of boats that were on the water last night from our law enforcement agencies is just astounding. Add to that triple or quadruple the number of volunteers that we had out there, that's what made this happen," Lt. Scott Tummond of the Levy County Sheriff's Office said.
The fishermen said the teens told them they noticed a rescue helicopter earlier in the night and tried to signal it.
"They had seen the helicopter fly over three times," said Jeffries.
Pauling said "the spotlight was just out of reach, it seemed like."
Added Coon, "And they couldn't leave the paddleboard because the oyster shells are so sharp and they were barefooted, so they couldn't go to the spotlight. So they were just hoping that it would go over the top of them."
When Pauling, Jeffries and Coon met the girls, they said despite what they had likely gone through, they were still doing relatively OK.
"As soon as we got there, ran over there, they were a little cut up, real cold, probably hypothermic," Pauling said.
Jeffries added, "I just kind of wanted to, kind of make them feel comfortable in some sort of way. And talking, just, they seemed like they were in good spirits in a bad situation."
The fishermen carried the teens to safety and transported them to a boat ramp where they were taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment.
