Thanks to the heroic sacrifice of safety officer Roger Stone, the crew of a capsized boat was able to survive in the water until the Coast Guard came to help them.
Last week, a group of four Texas A&M University college students and two safety officers from Galveston, Texas set off in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico aboard a 38-foot sailboat for the Regatta de Amigos, which would lead them down to Veracruz, Mexico.
But, on Friday evening, the team didn’t make contact for a mandatory radio check. They had lost communication - and their friends and family back home were worried.
As it turned out, the ship had capsized. But thanks to the heroic sacrifice of one safety officer, 53-year-old Roger Stone, the rest of the crew was able to survive in the water until the Coast Guard came to help them.
“Roger was down below with Steven and Travis Wright and he said that water was coming in and then when the boat went turtle, he pushed Steven and Travis up through the hatch and was obviously trapped below,” the surviving safety officer, Steve Conway, told CBS News.
When the Coast Guard discovered the crew, more than 26 hours after the ship had capsized, five crew members were sharing four life jackets to stay afloat in the choppy water. “We kept a real positive attitude and looked forward to the fact that the Coast Guard was gonna save us, that it was just a matter of time,” said Conway. Apart from dehydration and a slight sunburn, the team was no worse for the wear upon rescue, and are currently recuperating from their ordeal at home.
Tragically, Stone didn’t survive. His body was recovered on Sunday afternoon, but “all five survivors of this tragic accident credit Mr. Stone with heroic efforts that were instrumental in making possible their survival,” R. Bowen Loftin, CEO of Texas A&M at Galveston, wrote in a message on the school’s website. “Roger Stone died a hero in the classic sense of the word.”