An American fisherman who had been missing or 13 days in the Pacific was found by a passing fishing boat off the coast of Vancouver Island in Canada.
Ryan Planes and his uncle, John, both from Sooke, British Columbia, were out fishing when they thought they saw something in the water. They were about 60 miles northwest of the Strait of Juan de Fuca that separates the U.S. from Canada. It was a life raft, and the man on the raft fired off a flare.
The Planes picked him up. It turned out that he had been on the raft for 13 days, and the U.S. Coast Guard had already cancelled its search for him.
The man and one other left Westport, Washington, on October 12 on The Evening, a 43-foot commercial fishing boat. They were due back on the 15th. When they did not return by the 22nd, one of the men’s daughters called the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard started an air- and-sea search covering 14,000 square miles, before suspending it on the 25th.
The man on the raft said his food and water had run out. He survived by catching a salmon.
The Planes called the Canadian Coast Guard after they picked him up. They gave him breakfast, saying he was pretty hungry, and he drank three bottles of water. The Canadian Coast Guard then arrived to help. As the man got on the Coast Guard boat, he waved to the Planes. “Thanks a lot, guys,” he said.
The Coast Guard took him to a hospital in Tofino on Vancouver Island, where he was listed in stable condition.
Read more at https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/28/us/man-missing-at-sea-found-alive/index.html and see the video below:
