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TOLCHESTER – An unnamed Good Samaritan brought two boaters out of the bay near here on Saturday afternoon, then helped the Coast Guard transport them safely to shore.
The boaters – identified as Renato Devera Angeles, 54, of Towson and Vincent Cabico Valdez, 42, of Baltimore – were then airlifted to the Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, according to a spokesperson for state natural resources police, who are investigating the July 17 incident.
The initial report was that the two men were in stable condition on Saturday evening, said Captain Melissa Scarborough, the NRP warrant officer to the superintendent. Kent County News in an email Monday.
Scarborough said the US Coast Guard were the first on the scene, after receiving notification via VHF channel 16 from the Good Samaritan that he had rescued two men.
A crew of a small 29-foot response boat from Curtis Bay station was patrolling and diverted at the scene, according to a Coast Guard press release.
Two PNR officers also intervened in a boat to help with the search, Scarborough said.
The Good Samaritan helped get the two men onto the Coast Guard vessel, whose crew administered first aid while in transit to Tolchester Marina. They were greeted by Kent County EMS.
A Maryland State Police helicopter landed in a nearby field adjacent to the Kent County Ag Center, where the county fair was in full swing, and a second near the marina.
A spokesperson for Shock Trauma said Monday that Angeles and Valdez were not listed as patients.
Captain Scarborough said the initial dispatch to the NRP was around 12:45 p.m. Saturday. The coast guard had already been alerted.
Angeles, Valdez and three others were aboard an 18-and-a-half-foot Key West anchored near Hodges Bar in Chesapeake Bay, between Tolchester Beach and Rock Hall, according to the NRP.
Witnesses told investigators Valdez jumped into the water, drifted a short distance from the boat, and then started yelling for help.
“They threw in life jackets and a flotation device and someone turned on the engine to try to get the boat to help them,” Scarborough wrote in an email.
Jumping overboard during a rescue attempt, Angeles was injured when he was struck by the boat’s propeller.
They couldn’t get Angeles and Valdez back to the boat, “so someone in the water held them back until more help came,” Scarborough said.
The Good Samaritan radioed for help.
“Without the proper equipment on board, we would not have been able to help boaters in distress,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Valerie Foreman, coxswain of the RBS at Curtis Bay Coast Guard Station, in the press release.
Foreman added, “We encourage boaters not only to have working radios on board their vessels, but also to know how to use them in an emergency. The use of channel 16 is an essential and effective means of contacting the Coast Guard in the event of distress. . “
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