The Coast Guard says a man emerged from Hurricane Milton by clinging to a refrigerator in the middle of the ocean

As announced on October 10, US Coast Guard authorities rescued a man who survived Hurricane Milton by holding on to a refrigerator in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the release, on October 10, a Coast Guard helicopter crew in Miami rescued a man. He was found about 30 miles off Longboat Key after the hurricane. He was wearing a life jacket.

U.S. Coast Guard officials say the unidentified man is the captain of a fishing vessel named Captain Dave. He managed to save him twice this week – the first time on Monday, before the hurricane made landfall. Meanwhile, the captain and a crew member were stranded on the damaged ship about 20 miles from shore.

The Coast Guard reported that both were then rescued by helicopter and transported in good condition.

“The vessel was left adrift and rescue operations had to be undertaken,” the Coast Guard said in a statement. Then, around noon on Wednesday, before Hurricane Milton made landfall, the owner of the fishing boat reported to the Coast Guard that the captain returned to the boat to make repairs around 3 a.m. and did not report back.

The release said the Coast Guard was able to establish radio contact with the captain, who reported that “the rudder became fouled with rope and was damaged during transit back to port.”

As the hurricane approached, weather conditions were “rapidly deteriorating,” so the Coast Guard ordered the captain to put on a life jacket and use the boat to report an “emergency position indicating the beacon.” At approximately 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, as Milton approached land, the Coast Guard lost contact with the captain.

The captain was rescued from the water around 1:30 p.m. Thursday, officials said, 17 hours after Milton made landfall.

In a video discussing the rescue, Lt. Landon Klopfenstein said they spotted the captain in the water after searching the last known location of his beacon.

“As we approached, it looked like a large object – a silhouette,” Klopfenstein said. “As we got closer, we saw (his) arms go up in the air and at that moment we realized we had found the survivor floating – attached – to a large fishing cooler.”

Klopfenstein and Lt. Ian Logan took the captain to Tampa General Hospital.

“Honestly, we couldn’t believe he was OK,” Klopfenstein said. “A great story of perseverance, of a crew following their hearts and staying there, and it ended in a success story – a miracle.”

In the announcement, Lt. Cmdr. Dana Grady, head of the St. Petersburg command center, said the boat’s captain “experienced a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced sailor.”

“To understand the severity of hurricane conditions, we estimate that it experienced winds of approximately 75-90 mph and seas of 20-25 feet over an extended period, including overnight. He survived thanks to his life jacket and the locator showed the emergency location of the lighthouse and radiator,” Grady said.

There is no official information about his condition yet.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com