A man rescued after being found adrift in a life-raft 74 kilometres off the west coast of Vancouver Island had been missing for two weeks, says the U.S. Coast Guard, who called his rescue “nothing short of a miracle.”
He was one of two men who left Oct. 12 from Grays Harbor in Westport, Washington, about halfway down the Washington coast, on a three-day trip.
The two, who were on a 13-metre vessel, were reported missing on Oct. 22, a week after they were expected to return.
The men were not from Washington, and Steve Strohmaier, petty officer with the U.S. Coast Guard, speculated the delay in reporting them missing might have been due to the extra time it was expected for them to travel home.
The U.S. Coast Guard launched a search this week, but it was suspended after three days, having covered more than 36,000 square kilometres using helicopters, with infrared cameras and a larger aircraft that was brought in from Alaska, said Strohmaier.
Just hours later, fishermen onboard a vessel off the coast of Tofino spotted a life-raft. The man on the raft turned out to be one of the two missing men.
“The fact that they were at least close enough in this vast ocean to see a life-raft, and/or a flare, whatever it might have been, and then go alongside and find somebody alive in that life-raft is just unbelievable,” Strohmaier said.
The man was in stable condition and taken to hospital in Tofino, he said.
King-TV in Seattle identified the rescuers as Ryan Planes and his uncle John from Sooke.
“I saw what looked like a life-raft in the distance and ran inside and put the binoculars on him and then he shot off a flare,” Ryan told King-TV.
“We pulled him on board. He gave me a big hug and it was emotional,” said John, adding the man told him he was alone on the raft for 13 days, and caught a salmon after running out of food.
Planes said on Facebook the man used his last flare to attract their attention, and he had run out of water and food when they found him.
A video shared by Planes showed the man taking a big step onto a coast guard boat with help from two men. He waves and thanks his rescuers as the coast guard boat takes off.
“One for the books. That was crazy,” one of the rescuers says in the video.
Coast guard officials are hoping to speak with the man to determine whether to renew the search for the other man, who remains missing.
