Florida Keys Scuba Diver Saved (Not Pictured) – Image depicts person scuba diving near coral — Courtesy: Shutterstock — Sergiy Zavgorodny
Two off-duty police officers accidentally discovered a scuba diver who had been abandoned 6 miles off the Florida Keys after thinking he was a wounded seabird.
The “bird” they thought was a bird was actually a person feverishly flapping his arms, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office reported in a news release on July 27.
Although the name of the diver who was saved was withheld, Lt. David Woolf and Lt. Eric Thoresen of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office were named as his rescuers. According to officials, the rescue took place during the first week of July while the two men and their spouses were out fishing.
“I thought I saw what might be a bird down on the water flapping its wing. Like it was injured,” Woolf said in the post.
He circled the boat and moved in the direction of the bird to see closer. Thoresen, however, understood as they drew nearer that it was a man “in distress and drifting away from land.”
“What they found was a diver who had been swept away from his boat by the current. A boat that was later found about 2 miles away!” the sheriff’s office said.
When Woolf alerted the U.S. Coast Guard, he discovered that a lost diver warning call with the man’s boat’s coordinates had just been made in the Florida Keys.
“Call it luck, call it being vigilant even on their days off, call it whatever you want. We may just call it a miracle,” the sheriff’s office said.
“We are happy to report that the diver was safely returned in good health and the lieutenants were able to land a few fish by the end of the day too!”
No information was made public regarding how the man got away from his boat.
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Chris began his writing as a hobby while attending Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Today he and his wife live in the Orlando area with their three children and dog.
