Four people have been saved by brave fishermen – three of which were trapped in a capsized houseboat – as a storm rages on in Florida.
The rescuers battled through “six-foot waves” as they saved people stuck inside the overturned vessel as it capsized in the surf marginally south of the Panama City Marina boat ramp on Friday evening (June 16) in Florida. The civilian rescue mission featured three fishermen and a man on board a different boat, who has been named as Jordan Boyd.
One of the fishermen was Travis Brady, who said they had been out catching red snapper when the storm began. A waves intensified, his crew spotted a houseboat nearly entirely submerged in the grey waters.
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The group heroically fought through the constant waves to search for survivors, while Boyd’s smaller boat viewed from another angle. According to Brady Boyd was the “true hero of the story” when he courageously leapt into the water to break open one of the houseboat’s window to set the occupants free, MailOnline reports.
Brady told WJHG: “Within 15 minutes were in five-foot, six-foot waves. He was, without hesitation, in the water, helping those people.”
Brady added: “It restores your faith in humanity. It makes you really reflect on the things that are important in life.
“I’m going to try not to get emotional, but it was an intense moment. I’ve never been super-religious but today was just a super eye-opening moment for me, and I just feel like divine intervention puts you in the right place at the right time.”
Brady’s crew hauled the three survivors from the water, as well as a fourth person whose pontoon had overturned due to the strong waves.
Video footage shows the survivors being handed life jackets while debris flows around them in the sea and the storm causes their boat to rise and quickly fall.
Matthew Gillis, another of the fisherman taking part in the rescue, spoke of what an “adrenaline rush” it was. He said: “You kind of go into a different kind of mode you know, we got to get these people to safety, try to help them out as best we can, you know, because life is precious and we got to do anything we can to protect them.
“So we tried to do all we could in order to help the people out there.”
