Fisherman Not Seen in Two Weeks Is Rescued at Sea

Canadian fishermen help hoist a man wearing a green hat and a blue plaid shirt onto a Canadian Coast Guard rescue boat that has pulled alongside them. As the man steadies himself, he turns around and says, “Thanks a lot guys,” then waves as the Coast Guard boat pulls away.

“That’s one for the books,” one of the men on the fishing boat says. “That was crazy!”

The brief exchange, as seen on a video posted on social media, captured the rescue on Thursday of what the authorities said was one of two men who had set sail on Oct. 12 from Westport in Washington’s Grays Harbor County, both of whom were reported missing on Sunday.

It was unclear if the men had been lost the entire time or if there had been a planned delay in their travels, said Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Northwest.

The men, who had departed on a 43-foot fishing boat called the Evening, had been scheduled to return Oct. 15. One of the men’s daughters alerted the U.S. Coast Guard on Oct. 22 that her father had never returned home.

By Oct. 25, the U.S. Coast Guard had called off the search, but a little more than 12 hours later, the fishing boat spotted a life raft. The fishermen who saw the raft called the Canadian Coast Guard, which came to pick up the man.

The Evening and the other man aboard it still have not been located. The incident remains under investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The rescued man was transported to shore and was reported to be in stable condition, officials said.

The men, who have not been publicly identified, are American citizens, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Where they were from in the United States was not immediately available.

It is unclear what supplies the rescued man had available to him, but many emergency raft boats have emergency meals, supplies of water and forms of communication, such as a flare, Petty Officer Strohmaier said.

The men were fishing for albacore tuna to sell, according to an employee at a business listed on the boat’s permit.