A group of Dutch fishermen rescued a British man who had been clinging to a buoy for days after his inflatable kayak capsized while crossing the English Channel into France.
The man , aged 28 years old, survived a two-day wait in the middle of the sea on a diet of algae and mussels, reportedly wearing only a bathing suit.
The kayaker was rescued at Thursday morning by the crew of the cutter De Madelaine from Urk, the Netherlands, according to the newspaper De Telegraaf.
The man was seen by Teunis de Boer, captain of the T. de Boer shipping company in Zonen, while sailing between England and France.
After a “disappointing” morning of fishing, De Boer said he “saw something crazy” moving near a buoy in the middle of the sea.
He told the publication that, after reaching for a pair of binoculars, he saw the exhausted Briton “waving at us like crazy”.
The crew immediately sailed further close to him and worked hastily to rescue him from the buoy. The men threw a life preserver in his direction which the Briton grabbed on to before being pulled into the boat.
The young man aged 28 was suffering from severe hypothermia and dehydration when he was brought on board. He was also covered in bruises and his eyes had sunk “very deep into their sockets”.
Captain De Boer said it was “a miracle that he survived”.
To rebuild the man’s strength, the team gave him a Snickers bar and wrapped him in blankets. He then told the men that he had kayaked from Dover to France, but his boat had capsized on the treacherous shipping lane, leaving him with only one buoy to keep him afloat.
French authorities said the man had spent about 48 hours clinging to the buoy. He was later airlifted by the French coast guard to the intensive care unit of a hospital in Boulogne-sur-Mer, able to speak but in “bad condition”, reports say.
Unable to muster the strength to thank the crew in words for saving him from the buoy, he instead beckoned to himself with his heart in his hands in gratitude.
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