【Epoch Times News on October 12, 2024】Recently, the US Coast Guard successfully rescued a man who had fallen into the waters near the coast of Florida. He was floating with a sinking and floating portable refrigerator about 48 kilometers offshore, even during the hurricane, relying solely on the refrigerator to stay afloat for a whole night before finally being rescued.
According to a press release from the US Coast Guard (USCG), shortly after Thursday afternoon (October 10), search and rescue personnel found the stranded man about 48 kilometers off Longboat Key in the water.
He was wearing a life jacket and tightly holding onto an open-door portable mini refrigerator, drifting in the sea. A Coast Guard member used a helicopter to descend and swim to him, rescuing him. The rescue team then transported the man to Tampa General Hospital for treatment.
The man was identified as the captain of a fishing boat. On Monday (October 7), he and another crew member set out to fish, and when they reached about 32 kilometers off John’s Pass, the boat suddenly malfunctioned and could not navigate properly. The captain immediately made a distress call to seek help at sea.
The Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg received the report around 12:40 p.m. on Monday and promptly dispatched nearby rescue vessels and helicopters to the scene. The rescue team quickly hoisted the two individuals and brought them to safety. Their fishing boat remained stranded at sea.
However, around midday on Wednesday (the 9th), the owner of the fishing boat contacted the Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg to report that the captain had returned to the ship in the early hours but could no longer be reached.
Using radio communication, the duty personnel quickly established contact with the captain, who reported that while returning to port, the boat’s steering was entangled by ropes, causing it to malfunction. Considering the rapidly approaching Hurricane ‘Milton’ towards the west coast of Florida and the extremely adverse weather conditions at sea, the Coast Guard immediately instructed the captain to put on a life jacket and ensure the emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) device on the boat was kept properly.
However, around 6:45 p.m. on the same day, the duty personnel lost contact with the captain. It was not until the following day (the 10th) after Hurricane ‘Milton’ had passed through, that the Coast Guard officers successfully located him in the vast ocean using the positioning beacon, rescuing him ashore around 1:30 p.m. that day.
Commander Dana Grady of the Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg Command Center stated in the press release, “This man miraculously survived a nightmare situation, even for the most experienced sailor, it is very difficult to escape such dangerous sea conditions.”
“Considering the ferocity of the hurricane, we speculate that he was alone at sea battling winds of up to 120 to 145 kilometers per hour and waves as high as 6 to 7.6 meters, and this lasted for a long time.”
Super Hurricane ‘Milton’ brought destructive strong winds, heavy rains, and tornadoes to most areas along the Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday night, and so far has resulted in at least 17 deaths and nearly 2 million users losing power supply.