Rescuers saved a man who was lost at sea for 15 hours, according to the Coast Guard.
The 28-year-old man fell overboard from a Carnival Cruise ship, officials said.
The man was “reasonably” in the water for “15 plus” hours, a Coast Guard official told CNN.
Rescuers saved a cruise ship passenger who was lost in the water in the Gulf of Mexico for 15 hours, The United States Coast Guard said on Friday.
A 28-year-old man fell overboard on a Carnival Cruise ship on Wednesday evening. Lt. Seth Gross, a Sector New Orleans search and rescue mission coordinator, said he was “beyond grateful” that rescuers were able to find the man alive in a statement.
“It took a total team effort from Coast Guard watchstanders, response crews, and our professional maritime partners operating in the Gulf of Mexico to locate the missing individual and get him to safety,” Gross said. “If not for the alert crew 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 did not return from a trip to the bathroom on Wednesday, according to BBC. Rescuers spotted the man on Thursday roughly 20 miles from the coast of Louisiana on Thursday, 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 to Twitter. The two-minute video shows the man floating in the water and paddling with his arms and waving as rescuers in a helicopter before the rescuers hoist him into the helicopter with a rope.
Gross told CNN that the man “realistically could have been in the water for 15-plus hours before we were able to successfully rescue him.” The man was able to identify himself to rescuers but was showing signs of hypothermia, shock, and dehydration, according to Gross.
Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement it “greatly appreciates” the effort of the US Coast Guard in searching for and rescuing the man.