A son tried to keep his 79-year-old mother alive by holding her frail body out of the rough ocean waters. A mother kept her 3-year-old daughter from drowning by sitting her on a floating cooler for nearly a day.
Three men who did not know how to swim — and had no life vests — held on for dear life to the side of the capsized boat.
The drama played out over the weekend when a Hialeah family’s fishing trip off the Florida Keys turned tragic with the death of Zaida San Jurjo Gonzalez, of Hialeah, who drowned despite her son’s efforts. Those who survived the ordeal were rescued on Sunday after drifting 20 hours at sea.
Click here for a new report for which one of the rescuers described the scene approaching the victims in his 22-foot Wellcraft powerboat.
