Angler was wearing life vest, hypothermia had already set in
Being aboard a sinking boat, especially in November, is never good news, but some good news did come from a boat trip that went wrong Sunday on Lake Moultrie during a bass fishing tournanment.
One boat sank during the tournament, but Bennie Bunch, a 60-year-old angler from Ladson, was rescued about an hour after his boat overturned. Bunch is alive and well, which all too often is not the way these stories end.
Bill Salisbury, chief of the Berkeley County Rescue Squad, said Bunch was able to use his cell phone to call 911 around 9 a.m., just after his boat filled with water and overturned. Bunch was wearing a life jacket and holding onto his boat, and rescuers found him about an hour later.
Salisbury said Bunch would have probably survived only another hour in the cold water.
“He was conscious, but hypothermia had already set in,” Salisbury said.
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