A fishing boat captain headed into the water off the Gulf Coast to make repairs on his vessel hours before Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida.
He ended up stranded in the storm, which made landfall on Wednesday night — battling waves up to 25 feet high and whipping winds of up to 90 mph.
As conditions began deteriorating with Milton’s approach, Coast Guard officials told the man to wear a life jacket and to hold onto the boat’s 406 beacon so he could be located.
Hours later, around 6:45 p.m. — about two hours before Milton made landfall some 20 miles south of John’s Pass — the agency lost contact with the captain.
“This man survived in a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced mariner.”
“He survived because of a life jacket, his [406] emergency position indicating locator beacon, and a cooler.”
Read more and see video footage here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/10/11/hurricane-milton-coast-guard-rescue-man-clinging-cooler/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3f431aa%2F67094b1887d54347a84c290f%2F59794962ae7e8a6816ecc4cb%2F24%2F56%2F67094b1887d54347a84c290f