‘Bachelorette’ Alums Brayden Bowers and Aaron Schwartzmann Rescued from Sinking Fishing Boat

Bachelor students Brayden Bowers and Aaron Schwartzmann were among five men rescued after their fishing boat sank.

The group was stranded in the water 15 to 20 miles off the coast of San Diego for three and a half hours before being rescued by another boat, Fox 5 reports.

Bowers told the paper that their problems at sea began when the line “got stuck on the engine propeller” of Schwartzman’s boat.

“Aaron just went to the back of the boat to lift the engine and try to untangle it,” he explained. “All of a sudden, as soon as he stepped on the swim deck … the boat literally sank.”

Charity Lawson and Brayden Bowers.

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He explained that the group, which was all fire, dispatch and military personnel, then “tried to row to shore, so we held hands and kind of just started hitting.”

“It’s like you’re trapped and helpless because there’s no service,” Schwartzman recalled. “We couldn’t send a distress signal at all, and all you have is hope, hope that someone will find you, hope that a helicopter will fly over.”

Schwartzman revealed that the group tried to “figure out the next steps…but…what are the next steps when you’re 15 miles out in the ocean – in the wind?”

The U.S. Coast Guard did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

GIRL - "2003" - AARON S.

Aaron Schwartzmann.

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The former reality stars — who both appeared in Season 20 Bachelor while competing for the heart of Charity Lawson — and three other men were eventually rescued by fellow sailors Chris Keeran and his cousin TJ, the paper said.

“We were looking for yellowfin tuna and then we found a school of people,” Chris joked to Fox 5, before adding, “We don’t consider ourselves heroes; we do everything any other fisherman would think to do.”

“I’m so thankful by the grace of God, we really saw something reflective. Just things that had to add up to get to them. I mean, when we found them, that was our best catch day,” Chris said.

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“As a rescuer, it never occurs to you that you might need rescuing, but when you do, it’s good to know that people will act the way you would,” Schwartzman added.

After the ordeal, Bowers told PEOPLE that the experience was “surreal,” adding, “I’m still getting used to going back to normal day-to-day life. I think the hardest thing was changing your mind that you and 4 people you care about are about to to die so that life can be normal again and feel as if nothing happened.”

“We were out there for over 3 hours just paddling not feeling like we were getting anywhere, but we did it because we all knew that if we were going to get out, we were going to do it fighting for our lives,” he continued. “I’m much more aware of the normality bias we all have. We don’t expect the worst to happen. We expect our cars to work, we expect to stay healthy, we expect our ships to sail. But what happens when that tendency towards normality is shattered. I’m there now. I feel like I’m living disconnected from the world around me trying to reconnect, but the fear that the worst could happen at any moment gave me immense anxiety and I had a few moments where I just broke down.”

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The reality star is grateful that she survived that experience, and says: “I thank God for protecting us all.” I thank God for sending Tj and Chris to see us and for giving them the curiosity to see what that reflection in the water was like. I thank God for allowing the 5 of us who were there to be five.”

“We leaned on each other and were strong for each other. By the grace of God, I am here at this very moment and I just pray that I can honor him with the second chance at life that has been given to me because in reality there is no reason for us all to get out alive,” he added. . “You see all the news about people losing their lives in incidents like ours. There was no signal when the ship sank. There was no way for people to know what had happened. In such moments, you ask yourself, ‘where can I get help from?'”

Schwartzman told PEOPLE that their experience “should underscore that there are still good people in the world who are willing to give their all for a complete stranger. The two men on that fishing boat who spotted us and pulled us out of the water saved our lives.”

“Life is crazy and sometimes we don’t realize what we have until it’s gone. Highlight them and their actions, they’re the story,” he continued. “Life is crazy, but what I’d like to end this with is a quote my dad shared with me when I was younger. It said ‘don’t love something you’ll never love love back’.”

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“The ship is gone, and that doesn’t mean anything. I still have people I love. It doesn’t matter what you have in your life, it matters WHO you have in your life. My closest friends are still here and that’s all I’ll ever need. Material things can always be bought, but your best friends can’t.”

Both Bowers and Schwartzmann are slated to appear in the upcoming season Bachelor in Paradise.

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Bachelor in Paradise Season 9 premieres Thursday, September 28 at 9:00 PM ET on ABC.

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