A stranger looked up, and two sinking boaters were saved

Two boaters off Sanibel Island, Florida, are safe after Lee County Sheriff's Office deputies reached them just before their vessel went under on Sunday afternoon. The pair had been taking on water and trying to flag down help with flares, fire extinguishers and their boat horn. For a while, nothing. Then a passerby spotted the distress signals and called 911. Marine Unit deputies located the sinking boat quickly and pulled both people aboard. "Here in Southwest Florida, our waterways are a major part of everyday life," said Sheriff Carmine Marceno, who added that the unit is kept ready to respond at any time. The boaters threw everything they had at the horizon, and the thing that worked was a stranger who happened to be looking.