World

Sailor rescued after 66 days missing at sea

April 3, 2015 6:39 pm

A man missing at sea for more than two months has celebrated a miraculous rescue after being picked up by a passing ship and airlifted to land, the US Coast Guard says.

Louis Jordan, who was reported missing on January 29, told family members he survived by catching fish with his hands and drinking rain water, the coast guard said.

He was spotted drifting on his stricken sailboat – a 35-foot vessel called Angel – more than 300km off the coast of North Carolina by the German-registered Houston Express tanker and taken aboard.

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A US Coast Guard helicopter then hoisted him to safety and transported him 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.

In an audio clip released by the coast guard, the father asked his son how he was feeling.

“I’m doing fine now,” Louis said.

The rescued sailor said he was unable able to fix the boat and sail it back to South Carolina, from where he departed in January.

He said he worried every day that his parents were crying and believed he was dead.

“We were. I thought I lost you,” his father said.