A cruise ship pianist rescued from the Pacific Ocean off Southern California had been treading water for roughly nine hours before two fishermen spotted him, according to US media reports and the US Coast Guard.
The man, a Royal Caribbean employee, was found on Friday about 20 miles (32km) from the California coast near Catalina Island. He was taken to hospital in a stable condition, the Coast Guard told the BBC, and the agency said it was investigating the incident.
How the rescue unfolded
Grant Garrett and Sean Norton were the fishermen who came across the man. Garrett recalled the moment they realized what they were seeing, telling CBS News — the BBC’s US news partner — that he called for the boat to stop and for the lines to be pulled in.
The man has not been publicly identified. According to the fishermen, he said he was a pianist on the Ovation of the Seas, a 14-deck cruise ship. Norton recounted one of the few things the man said to them: that he had thought he was going to die.
The Coast Guard said in a statement that it had received a report from a Good Samaritan who recovered a conscious person from the water. The individual was then handed over to Newport Beach Lifeguards, who confirmed he was an employee of the Ovation of the Seas.
Timeline and location
Lifeguard officials believe the man may have gone overboard at around 02:30, roughly nine hours before he was discovered. Newport Beach Lifeguard Battalion Chief Adam Yacenda described the location to CBS as approximately 15 to 20 miles offshore, describing it as pretty much the middle of the ocean.
The Coast Guard confirmed it is looking into the circumstances of the incident. Royal Caribbean Group said in a statement to the BBC that it was providing support and assistance to its crew member during what it called a difficult time, and that it had no additional details to share in order to respect the employee’s privacy.
Warm water credited for survival
Norton attributed the man’s survival to unusually warm ocean temperatures. He noted that this is a strong El Niño year and estimated the man had been in the water for probably 10 hours, with the water at 76 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 24C. In a different year, Norton said, there would have been no way he would have made it.
Scientists monitoring the Pacific have said the developing El Niño climate phenomenon is now the strongest on record, with ocean temperatures about 3.05C above average.
The incident remains under investigation, and further details about how the man ended up in the water have not been released.
