By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida firefighter made a dangerous leap from one moving boat to another when a vessel was found spinning out of control with an unconscious man aboard, video shows.
The dire predicament was discovered around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 4, when a caller reported “a boat spinning in circles” on Lake Dias near De Leon Springs, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post. The lake is about a 50-mile drive north from Orlando.
“Responding units spotted a single unresponsive occupant on the boat and quickly came up with a plan to rescue him,” the sheriff’s office wrote in the Facebook post.
“The Marine Unit crew moved in close enough for ... Technical Rescue Deputy Team Leader John Kyp to jump on board, stop the boat, and get the patient to shore.”
It took multiple attempts, but Kyp pulled it off just as the boat neared a fallen tree along the bank, video shows.
The rescuers discovered a diabetes kit aboard the boat, suggesting the 68-year-old Flagler Beach man had experienced “a diabetic emergency,” sheriff’s office officials told McClatchy News in an email.
He is expected to recover, the sheriff’s office said.
Kyp is an acting division chief with Volusia County Fire Rescue, officials said. The other three men in the rescue boat have been identified as Senior Deputy Matt Seltzer (operating the boat), Sgt. Brodie Hughes and Capt. Anthony Shank.
The video had been viewed nearly 245,000 times as of Feb. 6, and had 6,000 comments and reactions, many calling the four-man rescue team “courageous.”
“This made me cry watching these wonderful officers saving this man’s life. God working through others is a beautiful sight to see!” Katherine Bennett Rebholz wrote on the sheriff’s office Facebook page.
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