Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Airboaters rescued after becoming stranded in the Everglades
SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Several airboaters made it out of the Everglades safe and sound after Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews spent hours searching for them.
The boaters went on a bigger adventure than they had anticipated after their boat broke down, leaving them stranded in the swamp in the dark of night.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews flew in a helicopter, some 30 miles west of Tamiami Airport to search for the boaters at about 9 p.m. Sunday and wouldn't locate them until about 2 a.m. Monday.
The three boaters, two brothers and a friend, got stuck out in the wild after their boat hit a tree. "Right before dark, we're coming back to the camp, and we hit a tree, and the steering rod went right through the propeller, and we tried to nurse her back, and then it got dark, and we got lost, and we couldn't make it back," said Ray Gottardi.
A family member of the boaters called Miami-Dade Fire Rescue as dusk approached when the boaters did not show up after their afternoon ride into the sawgrass.
After a few hours of searching, the rescuers were able to get in touch with the boaters via a cell phone, which soon went dead. Then, with fuel running low on the chopper, rescuers have to return to the airport to refuel.
Rescuers were able to locate them again by following the beam of a flashlight, which one of the boaters held to the sky and night vision goggles. "Without the aid of night vision goggles it's very difficult to almost impossible. It's very, very dark," said Miami-Dade Fire Rescuer Wayne Sessions.
Rescuers finally located the airboat about five miles west of Krome Avenue, near Tamiami Trial. A medic was deployed from the chopper to the airboat to check out the three airboaters. MDFR then dispatched an airboat to bring the three men back to their camp, where awaiting family members hugged them in celebration.
The three boaters only suffered some hypothermia from being exposed to the elements for so long. "It was just wet and miserable and cold, man," said Gabriel Gottardi, who also admitted this was the first time he had ever been on an airboat.
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