A 17-year-old kayaker became separated from his high school rowing group Wednesday and spent nearly 12 hours treading water and clinging to his kayak, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The U.S. Coast Guard Hawaii Pacific, working with the Honolulu Fire Department and other agencies, rescued the boy Thursday morning. He was separated from the group on Wednesday around 6:30 p.m., the Coast Guard said in a statement on Facebook.
The boy was stranded half a mile south of the Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort in Honolulu. According to reports, he capsized on a 6-metre surf ski and was not wearing a life jacket.
Lt. Col. Nick Iannarone, U.S. Coast Guard executive director in Honolulu, said he was glad to be able to share the good news with the boy’s family.
“I was so happy to be able to call his crying mother and say, ‘I finally found him, and he’s fine,'” Iannarone said at a news conference.
The Honolulu area warden issued an emergency marine information broadcast and launched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and HC-130 Hercules aircraft crew from Coast Guard Barbers Point, and a 45-foot medium response boat from Coast Guard Station Honolulu. Crews were launched to search. Intended for teens, the release says.
The flight crew found the boy around 4 a.m. Thursday and directed a nearby Good Samaritan boater to the location. A good Samaritan, an off-duty lifeguard, rescued the teen from the water.
Video released by the Coast Guard showed the moment a boater pulled the boy from the water.
The off-duty lifeguard said he took action after his wife texted him that the missing kayaker was her friend’s son.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I have to go.’ I used our boat… and we searched about 100 miles,” he said at a news conference. “We were able to find the boy and as we got closer we saw the kayak and saw his head above the water. We were so happy to see him alive. ‘Are you okay?’ ‘And he said, ‘Yes.’ …I put him in the boat and I threw him blankets and towels and everything and drove him to shore. ”
The boy, whose name has not been released, is in serious but stable condition, the Coast Guard said.
