A US man missing at sea for more than two months was celebrating a miraculous rescue on Thursday after being picked up by a passing ship and airlifted to dry land, the US Coast Guard said.
Louis Jordan, 37, who was reported missing on Jan. 29, told family members he had survived by catching fish with his hands and drinking rain water, according to the coast guard.
He was spotted drifting on his stricken sailboat about 322km off the coast of North Carolina by the German-registered Houston Express tanker and taken aboard.
A US Coast Guard helicopter then hoisted him to safety back to a hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, a statement said.
Frank Jordan, the sailor’s father, told CNN he did not know what had caused his son’s boat to break down.
US media reports said the boat had capsized and Louis Jordan was found sitting on the upturned hull when he was plucked to safety.
Frank Jordan said his son was in good spirits during a brief conversation with him following his rescue. He told CNN he had not given up hope Louis would be found alive, despite his inexperience as a sailor.
“I knew he had a good, seaworthy boat,” Frank Jordan said. “I felt the boat was going to keep him alive, but I had all sorts of worries because he’s not an experienced sailor.”
Louis had left the relative safety of the marina where the boat was moored to “go out and catch some fish.”
How his son ended up so far off course was unknown, Jordan said.
“I called him at one point a few days after he left land... and he was a few miles offshore. As far as how he got off track, I don’t know,” he said.
He said his son’s “strong constitution” and religious belief had kept him alive.
“He told me on the phone that he was praying the whole time, so I believe that sustained him a great deal,” he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese