Mother Swims More than 2 Hours to Shore After Family Nearly Drowns

OLD LYME, CT – A Connecticut family nearly drowned after their boat took on water Wednesday afternoon on Long Island Sound, according to media reports.

The boat held Darrell and Heather Emanuelson and their children Lucas, 7, and Holly, 4, according to Fox 61. The family had been in their 13-foot sailboat near the breakwater lighthouse in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, where they live, when the vessel took on water and sank.

Heather was able to swim toward shore at White Sands Beach while her husband waited with the kids, a feat that took about two and a half hours, according to Crossroads Today. After the Coast Guard and volunteers searched for about an hour, Darrell and the children were located uninjured.

The couple had decided to split up after making little progress trying to swim and hold onto their children, Fox 61 reported. Heather, a former lifeguard, thought her husband was strong enough to hold onto the children while she looked for help.

After heroically swimming for hours and finding a boat, panic set in for the wife and mother.

“That's when the panic hit me because then I'm just thinking to myself, ‘OK, I'm OK, but where are they?’ I had no idea where they were out there. My kids and my husband were somewhere out there, and I could see all the rescue boats and first responders out there looking," Heather told Fox 61 Connecticut.

For the family's amazing story, read and watch the full Fox 61 video here.

Read the full Crossroads Today story here.