14 DAY TRIAL // A man has rescued his family after a boating accident in Chesapeake Bay by swimming for five hours to get help.
The New York Daily News tells the story of John Franklin Riggs, of Maryland, who has made a heroic effort, saving the lives of his sister, father, niece and nephew.
They were out on a boat when a storm started. The vessel capsized and they were left holding on to a skiff near Deal Island, Maryland.
“There were a few storms in the area, and the boat turned upside down. [...] Mr. Riggs swam to shore. These people are very lucky. No one was injured,” states Sgt. Brian Albert at the Maryland Natural Resources Police for the Daily Times.
46-year-old Riggs started swimming at 7 p.m. Tuesday and made it to a home on the shoreline at roughly 1 a.m. on Wednesday.
“He said, ‘I’ve been swimming since sundown; I need help,’” says Angela Byrd of Chance, who helped the man get in touch with authorities.
He covered a two-mile (3.2-km) distance and had to climb rocks to get to the line of houses near the shore. During this time, his family fought off jellyfish in the bay.
“Our legs were getting stung over and over again by the jellyfish. We had cuts and bruises. My son was crying. Waves kept crashing over our heads,” Contessa Riggs details.
“I've never been so happy to see search boats in my life. [...] It took him five hours to swim ashore. He had to stop and grab a crab pot buoy and rest, then swim,” she remembers.
Maryland State Police responded with a helicopter and firefighters from Deal Island, Mount Vernon and Fairmount in Somerset County and Westside in Wicomico County participated in the rescue mission.
“The bay lit up. [...] It was beautiful, as scary as it was,” Byrd says.