‘We saved his life’: Man suffering medical emergency rescued by passing boaters Thursday

Despite an impending storm and a failed down engine, a boater with a medical emergency was able to get help from a group headed to Daufuskie Island.

Around 4 p.m. Thursday, Island Shuttle Boat Tours — a tour company operating out of Savannah, — was on the water for a day that “started out like any other,” according to the company’s Facebook page.

The crew had taken out several regular customers and their next group, a family of three — including a police officer from Richmond, Virginia — was going to Daufuskie Island for the day. As their boat entered Field’s Cut, a channel marking the line between South Carolina and Georgia, they spotted the Spirit of Harbour Town, a boat that runs tours from Hilton Head’s Harbour Town to Savannah River Street.

“As we got closer, I could see that she was stationary in the cut, her bow pointed towards a small white powerboat sitting on the mud bank, engine cowling off,” an unidentified company representative said in a Facebook post.

As the group got closer, they saw a man who was slumped over in his powerboat while trying to fix his engine.

“It was at this point that my passenger, the deputy, smoothly transitioned from passenger to his professional self,” the post said.

The deputy and another passenger were able to jump on the boat and begin helping the man who was diabetic and suffering from low blood sugar. They gave him a Gatorade and loaded him onto their boat before racing toward a nearby dock where they met an ambulance.

The identity of the man or those who came to his aid were not immediately available.

“We saved his life,” the Facebook post said. “He is back to normal now, and the Coast Guard got his boat to Hogan’s where he could pick it up. Cheers to the Fields Cut Rescue Squad!”