Two Indiana boaters floated in Lake Michigan for about an hour waiting for help to show up
MACKINAW CITY, MI -- Scary moments for two Indiana brothers who were out in the middle of Lake Michigan when their boat exploded.
Tonight, the two men are doing just fine, less than 24 hours of being stranded 10 miles from shore, in the water, watching their boat go up in flames.
They called for help, and within an hour, they were on a Coast Guard boat headed to safety.
We talked with one of the men who said if it wasn't for his cellphone, the outcome could have been an entirely different story.
The two men were about 18 miles from the Mackinac Bridge, out in the middle of Lake Michigan, and their fuel pump exploded. That’s when they knew they had a problem.
“All I could tell him was, 'we're on fire, we're on fire, I’m serious,' and then disconnect. I didn't have enough time to give him information; I can just imagine all the nightmares in their heads," said Steven Culp, one of the brothers who survived.
Culp said his brother turned the key and boom, the boat exploded just after nine Thursday night. Steven was on the phone with his friend on shore when it happened.
“You had the first starboard fuel line blow, then the permanent fuel line blow, and then the battery exploded, then the engine, 175 horse engine just split in half, then the main tank blew," said Culp.
Steven says it was like fireworks. He and his brother threw on life jackets and bailed -- left floating in Lake Michigan, hanging on the boat, trying to put the fire out. But before they went into the water, they called 911 and told rescuers what they knew.
"We had a pretty good idea of where they were at, at least a relatively good idea of where they were at," said Burr Mitchell, Wilderness State Park Supervisor.
The Culp’s floated for about an hour before being pulled out of the water by five coast guard sailors.
“I knew it wasn't my day, and I knew it wasn't going to be his because if it wasn't mine, he ain't going, and you just, you have that point where everything snaps, you don't think about anything else, you think moment to moment you know, what can I do to slow this down so I can make it, and there's no emotion to it, it's just a task," said Culp.
A task they accomplished -- and a will that was padded by their last call for help.
And that was the number one thing the guys wanted to express -- take a cellphone, because in this case, it saved their life.
As for the boat, it was completely destroyed. It’s on its way downstate to be sold for scrap.
