2 boaters rescued at sea

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- Two boaters are lucky to be alive after their boat capsized over the weekend.

Miami Beach Police and the U.S. Coast Guard responded to radio calls Saturday and found two people sitting on top of their capsized boat, six miles off the coast of Miami Beach.

A short trip to the Bahamas turns into a high seas horror for the two boaters from Hollywood, after, officials said, a large wave caused the boat's engines to rip off. The boat quickly took on water. "They didn't have a chance," said Miami Beach Police Marina Patrol Officer Thomas Fleischhauer, who was first to respond.

He found the couple stranded in the middle of the ocean, on top of what was left of their 28-foot boat. Police said, the boat broke apart so fast, there was no time to grab life vests or flares.

Fortunately, the couple did have time to make a life-saving distress call. "The information given was their latitude and longitude, that there was two people on board, and they didn't have any life jackets," said Fleischhauer.

It happened about six miles east of Miami Beach Saturday, as the pair headed out to the nearby Bahamian island of Bimini. "They claimed to have made that trip to the Bahamas a few times already," said Fleischhauer, "so they felt they were experts on it."

But their expertise proved no match for Mother Nature's waves, and the poor condition of their boat, which was suffering from dry rot. Turned upright to be towed, you can clearly see the engine completely ripped off. That's where the boat started taking in water. Belly-up, it gave the boaters a place to sit and wait to be rescued by Fleischhauer. "In the next 30 minutes, the boat would've gone down completely," he said.

Although, in this case, nobody was hurt, police are reminding boaters, before you go out to enjoy our South Florida weather, make sure it is good weather and make sure your boat is in good condition.

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