OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — A dramatic rescue on East Lake Tohopekaliga was caught on camera Saturday after a boat carrying six people began sinking in rough conditions.
Video released by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office and St. Cloud Police Department shows officers and a good samaritan rushing across dangerous waters to pull passengers to safety just moments before the boat disappeared beneath the surface.
Authorities say some of the people rescued did not know how to swim.
East Lake Toho is also known for having dozens of alligators, adding even more danger to the emergency.
Officer Michael MacDonald said there was no time to waste once the call came in. “It’s a matter of minutes, it’s life or death,” MacDonald said.
The emergency unfolded after deputies received reports of a boat taking on water in the middle of the lake.
MacDonald rushed to the marina, where local boater Serafin Heredia was hauling out a pontoon boat.
“I saw Officer Mack running on the dock, which is not a normal thing,” Heredia said. “And I said, ‘Mack, what’s going on?’ And he said, ‘There’s a boat taking on water.’”
Heredia immediately launched his pontoon and sped nearly two miles across the lake toward the stranded passengers, with Officer Michael MacDonald and his son, Officer Shayne MacDonald, following close behind.
As crews raced to reach the sinking boat, conditions on the lake worsened.
“We were getting tossed around in the boat too, just trying to get out to them as fast as we could,” Officer Shayne MacDonald said.
Video from the rescue captured tense moments as waves crashed against the disabled vessel.
At one point, rescuers warned the boat could sink at any moment.
“They’re about to take water over the bow … and I’m afraid after that happens, it’s going to go down quickly,” one rescuer said in the video.
When Heredia arrived, he immediately realized the passengers were in serious danger.
“First thing I asked when I got there was who can’t swim,” Heredia said. “Nobody had life jackets on.”
Within seconds, Heredia pulled one person onto his pontoon while the MacDonalds rescued four others. An Osceola County airboat crew rescued the final passenger.
Once everyone was safely aboard, emotions took over.
“Lots of hugs,” Michael MacDonald said. “They were extremely grateful.”
“The fact that we got to do it together,” Michael MacDonald said. “It was an afterthought. And I was like, ‘Wow, that was my son.’ To be able to do it with my son.”
Officials say the rescue is a reminder for boaters to pay attention to weather conditions before heading onto the water. A tornado watch had been issued Saturday when the group went out on the lake. Authorities are also urging boaters to make sure there are enough life jackets for everyone on board.
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