(May 19) - Two teenage brothers saved the lives of a Florida couple who were stranded in the Gulf of Mexico for more than 24 hours.
Timothy and Paula Allen realized they were in trouble when they surfaced from their scuba dive on May 9 to find that their boat had been pulled away by a strong current, NBC reported.
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The pair had gone out for a dive without bringing someone else to man the boat or filing a dive plan, two basic safety rules for divers, Timothy Allen, 52, told Meredith Vieira on NBC's 'Today' show Tuesday.
The Allens watched as four boats passed them without seeing them drifting in the cold water.
After spending the afternoon and night in the open waters, the Allens were suffering from hypothermia and dehydration, and were beginning to hallucinate.
Then, they saw a boat tie up to a buoy and put up a dive flag about six miles away, and the current was headed right for the boat. So they decided to try to swim toward it, the Allens told NBC.
"I told him, this is our last chance. If we don't go, we're going to die," Paula Allen, 48, said.
When they got within about 100 yards of the boat, they were spotted by Patrick Pinder Jr., 18, and his brother, Garrett, 17. They were watching the boat and snorkeling while their father, Patrick Sr., was scuba diving.
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Survival Stories
Jamie Neale, a British teenager who was rescued in Australia after being missing for 12 days, said he was a "total idiot" to go hiking in the Blue Mountains unprepared. Neale, 19, told Australian TV he left for the hike on July 3 with only two bread rolls and a small bottle of water.
Mark Kolbe, Getty Images
Mark Kolbe, Getty Images
The brothers untied the boat and headed over to help the Allens. When they reached them, the couple told the teens that they had saved their lives.
The brothers helped the couple get into the boat and take their gear off, and the Coast Guard came to transport the Allens to a hospital.
"I was very proud of them," Patrick Sr. said on Today. "They did all the right things."
