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Editor: Rod Sullivan
Profession: Maritime Attorney

Category: Boating Accidents

The details of an accident which caused two deaths last weekend are still murky. Richard Hostutler of Plant City and James Smith of Valrico apparently were out off Egmont Key, west of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge on a 21-foot Mako when bad weather suddenly broke out causing Hostutler's wife to fall overboard. He went into the water after her.

Smith took over driving the boat but then he too went in to assist in the rescue. Passers-by in another boat saw the woman remaining in the boat, presumably Mrs. Smith, yelling for help. Other boats pulled the three bodies out of the water, presumably Mr and Mrs Hostutler and Mr. Smith It is not known when the men died. The men's bodies were brought to shore aboard two boats, while another ferried in the wives. "We've recovered the bodies of the two males, and informed the women that their husbands were dead," Feinberg of the FWC is reported to have said.