Photo by Brian Phillips Glade Swift Water Rescue Team brings the second of two men trapped on the Allegheny River after a Saturday boating accident into their boat.

Time was of the essence when two boaters found themselves standing on the bottom of their tipped over boat in the Allegheny River Saturday morning.

According to Glade Volunteer Fire Department First Assistant Chief Doug McClain, two men from Pittsburgh were in the county to do some duck hunting.

They encountered a strainer — a hazard that lets water pass through but obstructs solid objects like boats. The partially-submerged, fallen tree overturned their aluminum boat.

The men had two things going for them, according to McClain. “They were wearing life jackets,” he said. “They had cell contact.”

The men placed a call to Warren County 911.

Youngsville Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene and Glade’s swiftwater rescue was dispatched at about 9 a.m.

It took about 45 minutes from that dispatch call until the boat made its way to the Dunns Eddy area, McClain said.

When they arrived, responders saw two men standing in the water. “They were probably in eight feet of water… completely capsized,” McClain said. They were standing on the bottom of their boat, “clinging on to the tree.”

“They were lucky,” he said. “You don’t have a lot of time” because of “hypothermia.”

He said he believes “that phone saved their lives.”