7 Treading Water for 20 Hours Rescued Off Florida Keys

Oct. 9: Seaman Kendra Graves, right, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert Femia assist EMS personnel in Marathon, Fla., with one of seven boaters rescued after treading water for around 20 hours after the boat capsized and sank. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard)

MARATHON, Florida – The U.S. Coast Guard says one woman died and seven people not wearing life vests treaded water in choppy seas for 20 hours before being rescued off the Florida Keys.

Petty Officer Nick Ameen says a person who rescued three of the boaters called the Coast Guard about 8 a.m. Sunday and told them others were still in the water. He says about an hour later a Coast Guard crew found the four who had drifted about four miles from the boat that capsized and sank Saturday afternoon off Marathon.

He says the group was not able to stay together and an 80-year-old woman never resurfaced. He says among those rescued was a 4-year-old girl.

He says the boaters likely were taken to a hospital but did not have their conditions.