The United States Coast Guard rescued a man who was clinging to a water cooler in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday (October 10). U.S. Coast Guard Southeast District 7 shared a video of the rescue on Instagram and said they had been in contact with the man earlier in the week.
According to WESH, the captain of a fishing boat reported that his boat was disabled about 20 miles offshore on Monday. The Coast Guard dispatched a crew and rescued two people from the vessel. On Wednesday, the owner of the boat contacted the Coast Guard and said that the ship’s captain headed out around 3 a.m. to try to repair the boat but never checked in.
The Coast Guard radioed the captain, who said the ship’s rudder was busted and needed to be repaired. However, by 6:45 p.m., the Coast Guard lost contact with the captain, around the time that Hurricane Milton was making landfall in Siesta Key as a powerful Category 3 storm.
The next day, a Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Miami was dispatched and located the man using his emergency position indicating locator beacon. He was floating on a cooler about 30 miles off the coast.
One of the rescuers rappelled down from the helicopter and pulled the captain to safety. He was then transported to the hospital for treatment.
“This man survived in a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced mariner,” said Lt. Cmdr. Dana Grady, Sector St. Petersburg’s command center chief. “To understand the severity of the hurricane conditions, we estimate he experienced approximately 75-90 mph winds, 20-25 foot seas, for an extended period of time to include overnight. He survived because of a life jacket, his emergency position indicating locator beacon, and a cooler.”
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