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LINDON — Stefan Ceciu went to the Lindon Marina to kill some time and brought along a drone he had recently purchased.
"I noticed a few officers were here parked in the parking lot after I had set up. So I approached them just to double check if it was OK to take off still, given the emergency situation."
After a few minutes a Lindon police officer asked Ceciu what the range was on his drone, "and if there's any chance I could go out there and possibly look for a family," he said.
Law enforcement officials told Ceciu that it was a family of seven, including two toddlers. They were stranded on a sinking boat.
"(I was) a little anxious, knowing that there were people out there in a large lake unable to reach anyone and nobody really knew where they were was a little bit concerning."
His drone also had very little battery left.
Officers told Ceciu the family was somewhere between the Saratoga Springs Marina and the Lindon Marina. Ceciu said with a bit of luck he was able to find the family within 15 minutes.
"They were a good 10,000 feet out."
After locating the family, Ceciu gave police the GPS coordinates to help first responders. Ceciu however did not have enough battery to bring his drone back to shore.
"It took a dip, and it belongs to the lake now," he said.
Ceciu said despite losing his drone, he can't put a price on saving even one person's life.
"Honestly, it feels like a bit of a miracle," he said. "I do believe that some things just happen the way they're meant to, and this just one feels right."
"Without this drone operator's assistance, this rescue operation could easily have taken an hour or more longer than it did," said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon. "And even in warm weather, this family could have had problems with hypothermia in the 81 degree water."
The family of seven all had life jackets. "Without those life jackets, this incident could have had a much different outcome," Cannon said.
Multiple agencies and other boaters helped the family in distress. An off-duty Orem firefighter brought two people from the family onto his boat and then towed the stricken boat to Lindon Marina. Another boater brought the rest of the family back to the marina, he said.
A GoFundMe account* was set up Sunday to help Ceciu purchase a new drone.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
