Lone survivor Nick Schuyler gave harrowing details in Coast Guard report
A stuck anchor is being blamed for the boating accident that killed two NFL football players and a third man off the Florida Gulf Coast in late February.
The Associated Press is reporting, based on a Freedom of Information Act request, that the lone survivor, Nick Schuyler, said the boat capsized as the four men tried to free its anchor from a coral reef.
Hypothermia and time, however, took their toll quickly, and within four hours the men were weakened in the frigid waters.
Schuyler told the Coast Guard that one of the men “freaked out” and took off his life vest and disappeared that night.
Another started getting unruly, throwing punches and later took off his life jacket, dove under the water and was never seen again. The third man thought he saw land nearly two days after the boat capsized and decided to swim for it.
That man said his life jacket was too tight and he took it off, Schuyler told the Coast Guard.
Officials have said they found three life jackets: one on Schuyler, another near the boat and a third underneath.
It’s unclear how accurate the account is. Schuyler, who was found clinging to the overturned boat about 35 miles off Clearwater and nearly 48 hours after the accident, was suffering from hypothermia and he has provided different accounts to the men’s relatives.
