Monday, June 4th, 2018
Men safe after boat overturns
By Tom Stankard
Photo by Tom Stankard/The Daily Standard
Celina firefighters work with Celina police officers to pull in a boat Sunday evening. The boat capsized while two Celina men were angling for catfish on Grand Lake.
GRAND LAKE - Two Celina men made it to shore unharmed after their boat had capsized on Sunday evening.
Shandy Mullins, 37, and his friend, Nick Neace, 18, were angling for catfish when a strong eastward wind reportedly forced their boat to drift across the lake toward the Wright State University-Lake Campus area.
A large wave hit the boat, causing it to take on water, Mullins recalled standing on a dock by the campus. The two started bailing using buckets, but then another big wave splashed them and flooded their boat.
They realized more water was in the boat than it could handle so the two men put on their lifejackets, Mullins said. Their boat capsized, and the two hung onto it for at least 20 minutes before someone saw them and called for help, Mullins said. Celina firefighters and Mercer County Sheriff's deputies responded at about 7:30 p.m.
Once they were close to shore, Mullins and Neace were able to walk out of the lake under their own power, fire chief Doug Wolters said.
The firefighters were able to pull the boat to shore and they later dropped Mullins and Neace off at the West Bank boat docks, from where they had set off.
