Dramatic video from a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office helicopter shows a man clinging to a buoy in the middle of Tampa Bay, roughly 3.5 miles from Beer Can Island.
A man called 911 around 7:50 p.m. Sunday and said his friend, who could not swim, jumped out of his boat and became stranded on the large buoy.
The man apparently feared the boat was going down. He was not wearing a life jacket, officials said.
“The caller advised he could not go back to get him or look for him as the battery on his boat was dead and he was anchored in place,” a sheriff’s office spokesman said in a press release sent Monday.
The helicopter, dive team members and marine units responded to the scene.
After searching the water for a few minutes, the man was found on the buoy.
“Our aviation unit found them using forward-looking infrared, found the gentleman clinging to the buoy,” said spokesman Danny Alvarez.
Divers entered the water and helped the man down. Minutes later, they are seen entering a rescue boat that’s moving side-to-side in the choppy water.
The stranded boater and his friend were safely taken to Williams Park boat ramp.
Their names have not been released.
“I definitely would have stuck with the boat unless it was on fire,” said Dave Beedy, a local boat company captain.
