Coast Guard saves man who fell overboard into Gulf of Mexico in ‘Thanksgiving miracle’
The U.S. Coast Guard saved a man who fell overboard off a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday in what one official is calling a “Thanksgiving miracle.”
The Coast Guard said in a release that members received a call at around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, that a passenger was missing from the Carnival Valor cruise ship.
The military branch found the 28-year-old man at 8:25 p.m. after multiple rescue crews conducted a search.
The man fell off the ship on Wednesday evening near Southwest Pass, La.
“It is really nothing short of a Thanksgiving miracle to be able to pick somebody up after that long in the water without any sort of flotation device,” Ryan Graves, a petty officer for public affairs in the 8th District told The Washington Post.
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The release states that the bulk carrier CRINIS observed the man in the water and directed a Coast Guard New Orleans MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew to rescue the man.
The crew hoisted the man onto the helicopter and brought him to the New Orleans Lakefront Airport to await emergency medical services.
“We are beyond grateful that this case ended with a positive outcome,” said Lt. Seth Gross, a Sector New Orleans search and rescue mission coordinator. “It took a total team effort from Coast Guard watchstanders, response crews, and our professional maritime partners operating in the Gulf of Mexico to locate the missing individual and get him to safety.”
The release states that the man was in stable condition.
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