Beer Cooler, GPS Beacon Save 4 at Sea

Two men and their sons stayed afloat long enough for rescue
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 6, 2012 6:00 PM CST
Beer Cooler, GPS Beacon Save 4 at Sea
It's a flotation device, too.   (Shutterstock)

Two friends and their sons were saved from drowning by some quick thinking and an unlikely hero: a beer cooler. Scott Smiles and Rick Matthews were on a fishing trip with their 11-year-old sons off the coast of Sydney, Australia, yesterday, when their 40-foot boat started on fire five miles out to sea, reports ABC News. Smiles tossed the cooler overboard as a flotation device, grabbed a GPS emergency beacon, and the group jumped into the 200-feet-deep water. They were able to stay afloat for the 45 minutes it took a rescue chopper to reach them. (More beer cooler stories.)

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