Dan Ho.Photo:SCPD/Facebook
SCPD/Facebook
A Long Island man was rescued from the Atlantic Ocean on Monday after he got caught in a current during a morning swim.
The 63-year-old spent “approximately five hours” treading water before he made a potentially life-saving decision to create a makeshift flag in hopes of getting someone’s attention, per the department.
Ho fashioned the flag using his shirt and a broken fishing pole he found in the water. He then waved it in the air “in an attempt to notify passing vessels of his presence,” and was ultimately successful.
Jim Hohorst and Michael Ross spotted Ho in the water about two-and-a-half miles from where the swimmer entered the water, according to the SCPD.
The two men quickly hoisted Ho onto the 2007 Albin Tropical Soul, per the SCPD. Afterward, Hohorst made a call over VHF radio, and authorities responded to the scene.
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Ho “was conscious and alert but unable to stand” when he was transferred to the responding vessel, according to police.
Ross and Hohorst wrapped Ho in towels and tended to him until help arrived. “I had my arm around him sitting in the back seat just keeping him from falling over,”Ross explained.
He later added, “[Ho] just kept saying: ‘I thought I was a goner, I thought I was a goner.’ ”
The responding officers treated Ho for hypothermia and brought him to shore, where the Long Island man was treated at the United States Coast Guard Station-Fire Island. He was later transported to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip.
The SCPD shared a photo of Ho wrapped in what appears to be a mylar blanket while speaking with first responders.
source: people.com
