ANCLOTE, Fla. (WSVN)– A deep sea fishing crew came to a man’s rescue after two boaters fell overboard off the Florida’s west coast, triggering a search for the missing man that has since been suspended. man was saved at sea thanks to some fishermen who were in the right place at the right time.
Pete Hans had been treading water for nearly eight hours off Anclote, north of Clearwater, when a charter boat found and rescued him.
Capt. Chad Haggert, owner and operator of Double Eagle Deep Sea Fishing, said this rescue almost didn’t happen.
“We almost called the trip then. We were going to head back in, but we said, ‘No, let’s go try and get a few fish while we’re out here.’ So we turned back around, and God put us in the right spot to find Pete,” he said.
Hans and his friend Brandon Taylor were on a fishing trip when a wave threw them off their boat about halfway into their trip, early Wednesday morning.
“A wave came out of the north and hit the side of the boat, and just – the boat nosedived, made a hard left-hand turn and threw us out of the boat,” said Hans. “The winds just picked up, the waves got bigger, and him and I got separated. We were talking and just trying to stay together the best we could.”
Hans said the boat was in autopilot, so it kept going, adding he’s certain God got him through those eight hours.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘Control your breathing, control your breathing, just keep floating.’ You’d close your eyes, and Jesus would be in your vision,” said Hans.
A U.S. Coast Guard crew came back and checked Hans out while he was on the charter.
“And he just kept saying, ‘My friend’s out there,’ and we were trying to make circles as we were calling the Coast Guard, looking for anybody, and unfortunately, Brandon, we did not see him,” said Haggert.
Crews have since decided to call off the search for the father of two, leaving loved ones heartbroken.
“Brandon was an avid fisherman. He is an avid hunter. He was born to be on the water. He knew the waters like the back of his hand. He is the kind of person that would drop anything and everything to get to somebody to help them,” said Karrie Taylor, the mother of Taylor’s children, as she fought back tears.
Hans is now recovering, with some severe cramping and a bad sunburn, but is otherwise expected to be OK.
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Sebastian Cuervo
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