TAMPA - A cell phone came in handy for a Massachusetts college rowing team that got swamped by a passing freighter in the chilly waters of Tampa Bay Friday.
The students, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, were 2 miles into the bay when their 60-foot scull filled with water..
The students fell into the water and climbed into their coach's 8-foot chase boat, which wasn't built to hold so many people. The coach called 911.
"The chase boat's overloaded, it's starting to get dark, the water is about 57 degrees," Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said. "If he didn't have that cell phone, this easily could have been a tragic outcome."
The Coast Guard and Tampa Police each sent a boat around 7:30 p.m.
