‘Absolute miracle’ as fishermen find sailor after 19 hours lost at sea

The Vietnamese national was reported missing on Thursday after falling off a cargo ship triggering a multi-agency search in the water and from the air.

Ultimately it was two mates out on a fishing trip who found him, including Dr Glen Valaire.

”It was just an absolute miracle that we came across this guy,” Valaire told 9News.

“My friend says to me ‘Glen, Glen, there’s someone in the water!'”

Valaire quickly swung into action wrapping the man in blankets, giving him water, and calling triple zero. 

“He was so fatigued he had to lay down in the back of the boat, he was freezing cold, had a weak pulse, super pale and we were concerned for him,” Valaire said.

The man was a crew member on bulk carrier vessel Double Delight and reportedly fell from the cargo ship about 11.30pm on Thursday night off the Newcastle coast, 169km north of Sydney.

When police finally reached the sailor they found a plastic bag with ID, a wallet and a packet of cigarettes strapped to him.

Border Force are now investigating whether this was all planned and he intended to jump off the ship.

The fishermen met with paramedics at a boat ramp.

“He was conscious, he was able to communicate with us, he was very cold, he was hypothermic and exhausted – he was absolutely exhausted,” NSW Ambulance paramedic Erin Laughton said.

Laughton said the man told paramedics he had a sore throat but he was otherwise in good condition.

“I think being in his 20s probably helped him quite a bit after 18 hours,” she said.

“He wasn’t really complaining a lot, he was just relieved to be found.”

Laughton said it was a remarkable outcome, considering how long the man was in the water.

“In my years, it’s the first time I’ve seen someone being in the water that long that was in that good of a condition,” she said

A multi-agency team joined in the search for the man on Friday from land, sea and air, including NSW Police and Marine Rescue NSW.

Jason Richards from NSW Marine Rescue told Weekend Today the search team were grateful to hear the man had been found safely.

“It was a huge search effort and it’s a fantastic result that he was found alive.

“When we first responded we didn’t actually know how long he’d been in the water.

“We later found out he’d been missing since 11.30pm, so it sort of increased the search efforts a little bit.

“Hearing that he was found alive was just fantastic.”