The Coast Guard began searching for
Eduardo Garcia, 40, Juan Mortamer, 40, and Yohanny Mortamer, 13, early
this morning shortly after receiving notification that the men had run
out of fuel while boating seven miles off Hernando Beach Marina.
Rescue boats from Coast Guard Station Sand Key, the Coast Guard
Auxiliary and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, as
well as helicopters and an airplane from Coast Guard Air Station
Clearwater searched the Gulf of Mexico from Hernando Beach to Anclote
Key for more than 12 hours before receiving word that the boaters were
found safe off Horseshoe Beach, Fla., 75 miles north of their last known
position.
Although the Coast Guard is relieved the men were
found safe, several things could have been done to prevent the need for
the exhaustive search. The Coast Guard reminds boaters of the
importance of filing an accurate float plan, detailing where they will
be boating and when they plan on returning. In this case, the
Coast Guard was searching about 100 miles south of the actual location
of the missing boaters. The search patterns were based on
information passed to Garcia's wife over a cell phone at 11:00 p.m.
Wednesday.
It is also important for boaters to have a VHF
radio on board their vessel. Again, in this case the missing
boaters' only means of communication was a cell phone. Cell phone
coverage is often weak or nonexistent offshore. If the missing
boaters had a VHF radio on board their boat, they could have notified
the Coast Guard of their location and distress.
The missing boaters were extremely lucky as they
managed to signal a passing vessel with a signal mirror this afternoon.
The Good Samaritans on the passing vessel used their VHF radio to
contact a commercial salvage vessel to assist the disabled vessel and
the three men. They were towed into Horseshoe Beach safely this
afternoon and the Coast Guard and FWCC rescue boats and aircraft
returned to their respective bases.
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