On 3/20/11, at 1155 hours, I heard a distress call on the VHF marine radio about a vessel capsizing with people in the water off of John Lloyd State Park. I activated my emergency lights and siren and proceeded to that location from the ICW and the hot water canal. Upon my arrival, I observed the bow of the submerged vessel bobbing in the water and three people clinging to an inter tube. As I approached the inter tube, a juvenile, started to swim to me and I pulled the him out of the water. The Coast Guard pulled the other two people onto their vessel. I was informed by the subject that two other juveniles that were on the vessel, safely swam to the beach.

the owner/operator of the vessel informed me that as they were traveling, the engine stopped working. As he was trying to figure out the problem, two large waves came over the transom and swamped the vessel.

    All persons involved in this incident were transported to the Coast Guard station and evaluated by Hollywood Fire Rescue. All persons were treated for exhaustion and released on scene. No injuries were reported or observed. The vessel was salvaged by Tow Boat Us on the owners request.
HOLLYWOOD                     