Two fishermen rescued a Royal Caribbean cruise ship employee who was found treading water nearly 20 miles off the Southern California coast on Friday.
According to CBS Los Angeles, Sean Norton and Grant Garrett were returning from a fishing trip near Catalina Island when their boat’s captain spotted the man around midday.
“I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s a human being. Stop the boat; let’s get all of our lines in,'” Garrett said.
The fishermen pulled the exhausted man aboard their vessel. “Grant and I each got an arm and lifted him up. He was in total shock,” Norton said.
The man reportedly identified himself as a pianist aboard Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas.
“The only thing he said to me was, ‘Thank you. I thought I was gonna die,'” Norton told CBS Los Angeles.
The employee may have been in the water for approximately nine hours before being rescued.
Newport Beach lifeguards responded after the fishermen made an emergency call.
The unidentified man was taken to hospital and is expected to survive, according to the US Coast Guard.
Authorities are investigating how he went overboard.
Norton suggested unusually warm ocean temperatures may have helped the man survive the ordeal.
