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Eckerd College students, USCG help injured 7-year-old on boat

The boat hit a wake and the 7-year-old injured her back.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Eckerd College Search and Rescue team members were the first on the scene to help an injured 7-year-old girl out on a boat on Sunday.

The boat hit a wake and the 7-year-old injured her back. Once U.S. Coast Guard Station St. Petersburg members arrived, the college students continued to assist. 

Krista Park, EC-SAR maintenance and operations supervisor, said all of the students in the search and rescue program are volunteers. She said any student at Eckerd is welcome to join but they do have to go through training.

“As long as they pass the tests with an average of about 85 percent, they can be here," Park said. 

Two of the students who responded to the incident on Sunday were Leila Koenig and Anna Raybuck. 

“Through our years on this team we have missed out on certain things with our friends and things like that but the work we are doing and the skill set this team has taught us is so much more fulfilling," Koenig said.

Coast Guard members said the 7-year-old girl was taken to the hospital and is doing OK.

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