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Tugboat, barge help rescue boaters from Tampa's East Bay

 
Published Sept. 18, 2013

TAMPA — A tugboat and a barge aided the rescue Wednesday afternoon of two men sent into East Bay by an overturned canoe, authorities said.

Just after 3 p.m., Tampa Fire Rescue got a call about two men in distress in the bay after their canoe flipped. A passing tugboat, the Mary L, pulled over to help Robert Beery, 52, who was trying to stay afloat in the shipping channel, according to Fire Rescue. The Mary L then maneuvered over to Adam Raicies, 26, who had tried to swim to safety but stopped and grabbed onto chains attached to a barge about 50 feet from shore.

The tugboat's crew dropped the men at the docks at 2531 Causeway Blvd, where paramedics treated Beery and Raicies. Neither required further medical treatment, Fire Rescue said.