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Letter to the editor

Family outing shifts into rescue mode

A 15-foot boat with seven people aboard was sinking and then capsized. All were rescued.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published June 26, 2007

MADEIRA BEACH - It was supposed to be the last day of a family reunion. Instead, it turned into a search and rescue party.

The DeMarzo family and some friends were heading home from Egmont Key on two boats Sunday evening when they saw a 15-foot Thundercraft sinking near John's Pass.

The Thundercraft carried two children, three women and two men, clustered at the front of the boat. Water was pouring in, and the people inside were yelling for help and trying to bail out water with small buckets.

Then, as the DeMarzo family and friends watched, the boat capsized.

Andre DeMarzo, 36, was on a boat with his 18-year-old nephew, Jordan, and his brother, Tony. He jumped into the water and began swimming. Jordan followed him in.

Another boat piloted by DeMarzo's friend, Paul Strazzulla, 36, started moving toward the Thundercraft. Strazzulla had Andre DeMarzo's wife, Brandy, on his boat, as well as several others.

It was a hot evening. The sky was dark, the current strong and the water choppy and filled with debris. Some of the people in the water were crying and screaming that they couldn't swim.

Andre DeMarzo, headed for the Christian Lundgren, 12, and told him to hold on. He guided the boy to his friend's boat. Soon, 10-year-old Abigail Lundgren was also safe on board Strazzulla's boat.

Deputy Bret Mowatt, 38, a member of the Pinellas Sheriff's Office Marine Unit, was flagged down by another boater.

He picked up another woman who was floating on a bag filled with several old life preservers.

But the good Samaritans soon had a problem as they prepared to rescue a 63-year-old woman with a bad leg who was trying to float on her back. Jordan DeMarzo swam her to Strazzulla's boat, telling her: "You're going to be fine. ...Keep your head above the water and I'll do the rest."

But they couldn't pull Barbara Spencer on board. So Andre DeMarzo, flagged down a water scooter rider, who took them further into John's Pass.

Andre DeMarzo, tried to get the woman on Deputy Mowatt's boat, but they still couldn't pull her up.'

Finally, Mowatt towed them both to a rental dock for water scooters, where several men finally pulled her to shore.

Meanwhile, the rest of the DeMarzo clan stayed busy. Jordan guided another woman who was desperate for help to Strazzulla's deck boat, which the family used to hold the rescued people because it was more comfortable.

That left the two men who had been on the capsized boat, 42-year-old Robert Wolfe and 46-year-old Kenneth Dexter. They were still clinging to the hull of the Thundercraft. They grabbed boat bumpers attached to rope from Strazzulla's boat and climbed on.

The other rescued women were Tina Lundgren, 32, and Christine Myrick, 44.

Deputy Mowatt said he was surprised no one died.

He gave Wolfe, the owner and operator of the capsized craft, a warning for overloading the boat.

A marine salvage company towed the sunken Thundercraft away.

The rescued boaters thanked the DeMarzos and their friends. On Sunday evening, the rescuers went out to The Hut for dinner.

"We couldn't believe it, " said Andre DeMarzo, a Pinellas Park resident and project manager for a contracting company.

His left shoulder was still sore Monday. But he went to work anyway.

Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or 727 893-8472.

[Last modified June 25, 2007, 23:58:23]