Two fishermen rescued a man who was believed to have been swimming off the California coast for nine hours after falling off a cruise ship.
Grant Garrett and Sean Norton told CNN affiliate KCBS/KCAL that they were about 20 miles from shore when they encountered the man in the water Friday morning.
“I thought, ‘Oh, this is a human being. Let’s stop the boat and get the whole crew on board,'” Garrett said.
Norton added that the episode was “surreal.”
“Grant and I each got an arm and lifted him up,” Norton said. “He was in complete shock.”
“All he said to me was, ‘Thank you. I thought I was going to die,'” Norton said.
The man later said he was a pianist on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas, and Newport County authorities believe he fell overboard about nine hours before he was found, KCBS/KCAL reported.
The man is expected to survive, but he might not have survived if not for the El Niño phenomenon, which causes warmer waters in the Pacific Ocean, Norton said.
“We had an unusual super El Niño this year. This guy was probably in the water for about 10 hours and the water temperature was 76 degrees,” Norton said. “It’s a different year, there’s no way he’ll make it.”
A Royal Caribbean spokesperson told CNN: “We are providing support and assistance to our crew members during this difficult time. Out of respect for the privacy of our employees, we are not sharing further details.”
CNN has reached out to the U.S. Coast Guard and Newport County Lifeguard for comment.
