Rescued After Clinging To Overturned Boat For 13 Hours - Barely!

[DandyDon]

This is why I wear at least a snorkel vest if not a full life vest anytime on the any boat, any water, and my PLB clipped to it. Thank goodness he was wearing a vest, but 13 hours in Massachusetts waters - just wow! A PLB would have got him rescued much faster tho, and they're cheap now...!!

Severely Hypothermic Man Rescued After Clinging To Overturned Boat For 13 Hours

YARMOUTH (CBS) – A severely hypothermic boater was rescued after clinging to his overturned boat for nearly 13 hours.

Around 10 p.m. Monday a woman told Yarmouth Police that her boyfriend, 36-year-old Medford resident Arthur Moscufo, was overdue from a boating trip.

After finding Moscufo’s truck and boat trailer in the area of Bass River and Smugglers Beach in Yarmouth, firefighters were called and conducted a search of the shore.

A rescue boat helps save a severely hypothermic man from the waters off Yarmouth. (Image Credit: Yarmouth Fire Department)

Simultaneously, rescue crews from the U.S. Coast Guard, Yarmouth Fire and several other departments launched boats into the water and the Coast Guard dispatched its helicopter.

Around 4:20 a.m. on Tuesday, crews spotted Moscufo clinging to his overturned boat. Moscufo, who was severely hypothermic, was rescued and rushed to an area hospital in good condition.

Moscufo told rescuers he was testing a small aluminum boat he had just bought, leaving around 11:30 a.m.

The small boat a man clung to for several hours until he was rescued. (Image Credit: Yarmouth Fire Department)

Around 3:30 p.m., the boat capsized, and he clung to it until he was rescued. Firefighters Moscufo was helped by the fact that he was wearing a life jacket.

The tide carried him about 2.5 miles out to see in Nantucket Sound.

“He should probably play the lottery,” Deputy Yarmouth Fire Chief Jon Sawyer said. “Lucky guy, very lucky. I think another couple hours, it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did.”