WFLA

Clearwater Coast Guard save 5 stranded boaters near Naples

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard rescued five people from a boat that became disabled off the coast of Florida Saturday morning.

The Coast Guard said in a news release that officials in St. Pete received a report after midnight that the 24-foot boat and its occupants had not arrived as expected at a fishing spot in the Gulf of Mexico.

The five where found by an Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew safe aboard the boat, which had mechanical failure and no marine radio. A Coast Guard boat from Ft. Myers Beach brought them to shore.

The Coast Guard encourages all mariners to have a marine-band radio to monitor channel 16 and to have a float plan with someone they trust describing where they are going and when they should return.

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