Florida couple rescued after falling overboard at sea
Couple treaded water for 14 hours before being rescued
A Florida couple was rescued by four fishing companions early Saturday after being forced to tread water for 14 hours when they fell off their boat Friday evening, authorities said.
WSVN reported that 50-year-old Sean McGovern and 52-year-old Mellisa Morris were spotted seven miles off the coast of Hallandale Beach, Fla., just south of Hollywood. The U.S. Coast Guard said the pair had fallen off their 30-foot boat in Key Largo at around 6 p.m. Friday. Officials said the two did not have any life vests or means of communicating with nearby boaters.
The four men who rescued McGovern and Morris were dolphin fishing when they spotted the couple.
"We originally thought they were fish," said one of the men, Broward County Sheriff's Detective James White. "We got up close, and once we realized that they were in trouble, we brought them on board."
White's fellow detective, James Webb, said the two were "in pretty bad shape."
"They were both cramping pretty bad," Webb said. "They were both very dehydrated, very tired. They appeared mildly hypothermic." A third rescuer said McGovern had told him that the pair had both been stung by jellyfish.
Despite their ordeal, Coast Guard officials say that Morris and McGovern are going to make a full recovery.
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