Missing boater found dead onshore

VIRGINIA KEY, Fla. (WSVN) -- A man lost his life fishing with his nephew after a boating accident.

After an hours-long search over the waters Tuesday afternoon, authorities found the body of the 72-year-old man on the shoreline of Virginia Key.

Miami Fire Rescuers located his body near where his nephew, who is 50, made it to land after a wave capsized their 16-foot boat, the Isabella, sometime Tuesday morning. Paramedics performed CPR on the victim, but it proved fruitless, and they pronounced him dead at the scene.

The 50-year-old, meanwhile, made it to land with the help of lifeguard Ciccio Morales who noticed him waving for help in the ocean at about 12:30 in the afternoon. "I went in there to help him out," Morales said.

Soon after the nephew was brought to shore after swimming and treading water for as long as four hours, he told his rescuer that his uncle was still out there. "When I got him out, he asked me for water and explained to me what happened. He said, 'Listen, we went out fishing, me and my uncle, and the boat just capsized, and I don't know where he's at,' so I just got on the radio, let everybody now what was happening, and that was it."

The call for help would set off a hunt by air and sea with the U.S. Coast Guard and Miami Fire Rescue, only to find thier man deceased. "This is really sad news that we have to give to a family who was out here not long ago hoping that we would be able to provide some kind of good news to them," said Miami Fire-Rescue Lt. Ignatius Carroll.

Authorities said that the survivor swallowed some water and suffered slight hypothermia but was expected to be OK. Miami Fire Rescuers transported him to Jackson Memorial Hospital to be checked out.

The boat remains missing.

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