- According to the Coast Guard, rescuers rescued a man who had been missing at sea for 15 hours.
- The 28-year-old man fell overboard from a Carnival Cruises cruise ship, officials said.
- The man was “appropriately” in the water for “over 15” hours, a Coast Guard official told CNN.
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Rescuers rescued a cruise passenger who had been missing in the water for 15 hours in the Gulf of Mexico, the United States Coast Guard said on Friday.
A 28-year-old man fell overboard on a Carnival Cruises cruise ship Wednesday night. Lt. Seth Gross, a search and rescue mission coordinator for the New Orleans sector, said in a statement he was “extremely grateful” that rescuers were able to find the man alive.
“It took the entire team effort of Coast Guard Sentinels, responders and our professional maritime partners operating in the Gulf of Mexico to locate the missing person and bring him to safety,” said Gross. “Without the emergency response team aboard the motor vessel Crinis, this case could have had a much more difficult ending.”
The man had been on board the Carnival Valor ship with his sister when he failed to return from a trip to the toilet, according to the BBC on Wednesday. Rescuers spotted the man about 20 miles off the Louisiana coast on Thursday, the BBC reported.
He is now in stable condition, according to the Coast Guard.
The US Coast Guard posted a video of the man’s rescue on Twitter. The two-minute video shows the man swimming in the water paddling his arms and waving as a rescuer in a helicopter before rescuers hoist him into the helicopter with a rope.
— USCG Heartland (@USCGHeartland) November 25, 2022
Gross told CNN that the man “could have realistically been in the water for more than 15 hours before we were able to successfully rescue him.” The man was able to identify himself to rescuers but showed signs of hypothermia, shock and dehydration, according to Gross.
Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement that it “greatestly appreciates the U.S. Coast Guard’s efforts in finding and rescuing the man.”
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