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A 63-year-old man was pushed into the sea while swimming in the morning and forced to walk in the water for five hours.
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The man was finally rescued by a fishing boat after the jury rigged a flag from a broken fishing pole.
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“He was just treading on the water, praying some boats would come,” one lifeguard told WABC.
A New York man who was pulled out to sea during a morning swim walked through the water for five hours before being rescued by a passing fishing boat, police said Tuesday.
Dan Ho, 63, was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean off Cedar Beach on Long Island at about 5 a.m. Monday when he was suddenly caught in a strong current and pulled into the sea, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department he said in a statement.
Authorities said Ho walked through the water for five hours straight before he discovered a broken fishing pole floating in the ocean and used it to arbitrate a flag.
Suffolk County Police said the man “hooked his shirt to her and waved the shirt in the air in an attempt to notify passing ships of his presence.”
Police said he was finally spotted by two men on a fishing boat 2.5 miles south of where the swimmer first disembarked.
The fishermen, identified by authorities as Jim Howhurst and Michael Ross, threw him a life ring and pulled him onto their boat.
“He was just treading on the water, praying some boats would come along,” Ross WABC said. “I can tell you, no boats in the area, not for miles.”
Ross told the news outlet that Ho was turning blue and gray.
“He was shivering, very hot,” said Ross, explaining that he and Hohurst “wrapped him in towels.”
Authorities said Howhurst called for help via a Navy radio and two Suffolk County officers quickly transferred Ho to a police boat.
Howhurst, a retired New York City firefighter, “was in shock and pretty much incoherent at the time.” Newsday said.
It was terrible, Howhurst added.
“We thought he might have an hour left,” Howhurst told Newsday. “He had a very low temperature and said he was drinking a lot of salt water.”
Police said Ho was “conscious and alert but unable to stand” at the time and was treated for hypothermia.
US Coast Guard Station Fire Island brought Ho ashore and the man was taken to a local hospital in West Islip.
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