MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — Ben Norris, a senior at Jensen Beach High School, went out Sunday from the St. Lucie Inlet with two friends to fish in choppy waters.
“We were thinking about turning around. We debated twice. We said, 'Should we go in?'" Norris remembered Tuesday.
WATCH: Local teen was first to make contact with capsized boat on Sunday
They decided to press on, and 20-plus miles offshore, they spotted something.
“Tipped over boat floating and we run over there and there it is, it’s them, and there are four people on this capsized boat and we’re like ‘Oh my gosh,'" said Norris.
The four were clinging to the bobbing boat. The Martin County Sheriff's Office said the boat they were aboard was part of a smuggling operation and had first capsized Friday. Five others are missing and believed to have drowned.
“One teenager had a lifejacket on. The three others didn’t. I got to the bow and started throwing lifejackets toward them," said Norris.
Norris also gave them water and crackers as they stayed nearby waiting for the Coast Guard.
“In order for us to help them, we have to be safe too," he said.
WATCH: Five still missing after fatal boat accident
Deputy Buddy Sprott with the Martin County Sheriff’s Marine Unit says the teens’ actions were the right ones.
“You’re dealing with somebody out 22 miles. You don’t know what their intentions are. You don’t what they’ve been through or what they’re trying to do," said Sprott. “He stayed in area to where he could transmit GPS coordinates to law enforcement, to responding officers, so we could get a safe response to him."
Norris says this eye opening experience was made even more so knowing one of the survivors was his age.
“One thing I’ve learned from this is that you’ve got to be blessed where we live. Don’t take things for granted because you don’t know how bad someone else has it over there," he said.
Norris’ instincts as a first responder will serve him well, as his future aspiration is to become a firefighter.
