Two boaters missing for nine days found in Gulf of Mexico on raft
Posted: 06/29/2012
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - Two overdue boaters who had not been heard from for a week and half were rescued in the Gulf of Mexico, 90 miles northwest of Tarpon Springs night, according to a Coast Guard release.
St. Petersburg Watchstanders had received a call Sunday morning that Vance Bryan, 48, and Gerald Chessher, 37, had left Captiva Island on Fla. June 18 and were scheduled to arrive in Cancun, Mexico on Saturday the 23, but never arrived.
Friends and family had not heard from the two men and the Coast Guard launched an aircraft search to locate them.
It wasn’t until Thursday that the boaters were found in their inflatable raft by a Good Samaritan on a tug barge about 6:30 p.m.
The Samaritan notified the coast guard command center in Miami that he was in a raft with two dehydrated men.
Help arrived on the scene and the men were transported to the Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg to receive medical attention.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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