The US Coastguard reports that a passenger who went missing from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico has been found after spending more than 15 hours at sea.
On Wednesday night, the 28-year-old guy and his sister had been at a bar on the Carnival Valor ship, but he left to use the restroom and never came back.
The man was finally found on Thursday night, around 20 miles (30 km) off the coast of Louisiana, after numerous rescue teams searched the area.
He is said to be in stable condition.
Last night, a #USCG aircrew from Air Station New Orleans rescued a 28-year-old cruise ship passenger from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Read more: https://t.co/lOXMLuHu2Z pic.twitter.com/gGRTJempTX
— USCG Heartland (@USCGHeartland) November 25, 2022
Lieutenant Seth Gross of the US Coast Guard said the man could have been in the water for more than 15 hours – the “absolute longest that I’ve heard about – and just one of those Thanksgiving miracles”.
Gross told CNN that the case was unlike anything he had seen in his 17-year career and that the happy outcome “shows the will to live is something that you need to account for in every search-and-rescue case”.
It is unclear how the man came to plunge into the water from the ship which was en route to Cotumel in Mexico.
In 2018, a 46-year-old British woman was rescued 10 hours after falling into the Adriatic Sea from her cruise ship.
At the time, she was reported to have told one rescuer it had helped that she was fit from doing yoga and that she sang to stop her feeling cold overnight.