WASHINGTON — The US Coast Guard on Thursday said it had rescued a man hanging onto a cooler some 50 kilometres off the coast of Florida in the wake of Hurricane Milton.
The man, who was wearing a life jacket, was rescued by helicopter at about 1:30 pm ( 1730 GMT) on Thursday off Longboat Key on the west coast of Florida.
The man, named only as captain Dave, was taken to hospital for medical care, said the Coast Guard, which also released footage of the man clinging to the cooler in open water in the dramatic rescue.
Dave is the captain of a vessel that had been disabled on Monday and was left adrift some 30 kilometres off the coast. According to the Coast Guard, the man returned to the boat to make repairs at approximately 3 am on Wednesday and failed to check in.
The Coast Guard said the captain reported the rudder was fouled with a line and became disabled during his transit back to port. The man was told to don a life jacket and stay with the vessel's emergency position indicating radio beacon. Contact with the man was lost at about 6:45 pm.
At the time, Hurricane Milton was approaching Florida's west coast, waves were around 2 metres and winds were blowing at about 50 kilometres an hour, but was "quickly deteriorating as the storm approached," the Coast Guard said.
"This man survived in a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced mariner," said Coast Guard's Dana Grady.
"To understand the severity of the hurricane conditions, we estimate he experienced approximately 75-90 mph [120-145 kilometres per hour] winds, 20-25 foot [6-7.6 metre] seas, for an extended period of time to include overnight. He survived because of a life jacket, his emergency position indicating locator beacon, and a cooler."
Hurricane Milton made landfall in the area late on Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained wind speeds of up to 193 kilometres per hour. It subsequently weakened to a Category 1 storm and moved out to sea.
Homeland Security Secratary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday said that at least 10 people were reported dead in the hurricane, which triggered at least 27 tornadoes.
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