Reader's Digest

56 | July• 2018

few feet and never see someone

in the water.”

Ron and Hana had now been

in the water for two hours. hey

tried to swim for shore but the

waves and current locked them

in place. To stave off the hor-

ror of their predicament Hana

made jokes. “I don’t think we’re

going to make it home for din-

ner” she said.

“Look” Ron said pulling a

phone from his pocket. At the

same moment Hana pulled out

a GPS unit that she had tucked

into her life preserver.

Hana called emergency ser-

vices. A dispatcher answered:

“What is your emergency and

location?”

“I’m in Mobile Bay” Hana said.

“he bay area?”

“No ma’am. I’m in the bay. I’m

in the water.”

Using the phone and GPS and

watching the blue lights of a patrol

boat she guided rescuers to their

location.

As an officer pulled her from the

water and onto the deck Hana asked

“his boat isn’t going to capsize too

is it?”

SHANE AND CONNORGaston had

also gone overboard. Three times

thewindflippedtheirboatbefore

iteventuallybrokethemast.They

usedthesmalljibsailtoighttheir

way towards the western shore. Once

boat owners and captains trying to
work out how many people might be
missing.
Near the Dauphin Island Bridge a
Coast Guard rescue boat picked up
Sarah Gaston and Jim Gates. She had
sufered a leg injury and hypothermia
and as her rescuers pulled her onto
their deck she went into shock.
Ron and Hana were closer to the
middle of the bay where the likeli-
hood of rescue was frighteningly low.
“All you can really see above water is
someone’s head” Bannon explained
later. “You can easily pass within a PHOTO: BRYAN SCHUTMAAT

HanaBlalackandRonGastonwerein

the water for more than two hours