1 dead, 7 boaters survive 20 hours in Fla. waters

[October 10, 2011]  MARATHON, Fla. (AP) -- The U.S. Coast Guard says a commercial fisherman spotted a capsized pleasure boat and led to the rescue of seven people who spent 20 hours floating in choppy seas off the Florida Keys.

The commercial boat rescued three men clinging to the overturned craft and alerted the Coast Guard, which found a 4-year-old girl and three women holding on to a floating cooler on Sunday. An 80-year-old woman was missing and presumed drowned.

The Coast Guard says the boaters weren't wearing life jackets when their craft capsized in wavy, rainy waters on Saturday.

Petty Officer Nick Ameen says the child was suffering from hypothermia. She and a couple of other boaters were taken to Fisherman's Community Hospital in Marathon. Calls to the hospital early Monday were not immediately returned.

[Associated Press]

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