Two 16-year-old girls beat impossible odds after being swept miles into the ocean on a paddleboard - surviving 16 freezing, wave-pummeling hours in the pitch-black waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
'Only an intervention from the Good Lord above could have saved those girls,' Lieutenant Scott Tummond of the Levy County Sheriff's Office, said, still in disbelief over the teen duo's miraculous survival.
Best friends Avery Bryan and Eva Aponte set out for what was supposed to be a short, half-mile paddleboarding trip from Atsena Otie Key to Cedar Key on March 17 - but powerful winds and a ripping current had other plans.
'It was low-tide and the water looked pretty nice and we decided it was a great time to go to the sandbar because we could see it,' Avery told Inside Edition, recounting their near-death experience.
'We walked in like hip-deep and got in and started paddling,' Eva said, adding, 'the current was very strong.'
