A 63-year-old man went out for an early morning swim on Monday off the coast of Long Island when a strong current pulled him miles out to sea. So he began to tread water without anything to help him float, and with no one — and no ship — in sight. And it took five hours of treading and waving a broken fishing pole he found, which he attached his shirt to, before a couple of fishermen happened to spot him.
By this point, Dan Ho "was blue, (his) body gray," one of the fishers said about the stalwart swimmer. "He was shaking, totally hyperthermic. (We) wrapped him in towels."
From ABC7:
About two and a half miles south of where Ho had entered the water, two men on a boat spotted him.
Captain Jim Hohorst and his friend Michael Ross had been fishing for striped bass. They were checking the water for bait when they saw something moving.
"He was just treading water, praying some boat would come by," said Ross. "I can tell you, no boats in the area, not for miles."
Hohorst and Ross threw Ho a life ring and helped him aboard.
Ho was conscious, but unable to stand.
Ho was taken to the Fire Island Coast Guard Station where a medic treated him before transporting him to a hospital.
