Man missing for 13 days found drifting on life raft by Canadian fishermen

A US man, who was missing for the last two weeks, has been rescued by Canadian fishermen after they spotted his life raft. The survivor used his last emergency light flare to get the attention of the fishing boat.

The US Coast Guard said that one of the two missing mariners was located alive in a life raft approximately 70 miles NW of Cape Flatter.

Sharing the update on X (formerly Twitter), the official page of US Coast Guard Pacific Northwest said, "The man was transported to shore by Canadian Coast Guard coordination with @VicJRCC_CCCOS. He's reported to be in stable condition.”

In a follow-up post, the US Coast Guard added, “The good Samaritan vessel came across the life raft this morning at the pinned spot on the attached map. Westport (the departure point of the missing vessel) is starred. The 2nd individual remains missing at this time. The incident remains under investigation."

The man had been on his life raft for 13 days. He was rescued 12 hours after the US Coast Guard ended its search for him and his still-missing crewmate, who is feared dead, reported an international media outlet.

The man and his missing friend sailed on a 43-foot fishing boat on October 12 from Grays Harbor County, in Washington, US, the report added.

They were set to return by October 15 after a three-day tuna fishing trip. On October 22, one of their family members contacted the U.S. Coast Guard after they couldn't get through to them, stated the report.

Miraculously, on Thursday morning, October 26, one of the missing men was spotted on a life raft by a Canadian fishing family. After rescuing him, they contacted the Canadian Coast Guard who brought him to Vancouver Island Hospital. He is said to be stable, the report said.

As per the report, the person has been identified as 63-year-old Mick Diamond.

Speaking about the miraculous rescue, Diamond’s son said, “I have the most respect for that coastline out of all. It’s a pretty challenging place, as far as the currents and the tides go. It’s unrealistic to think he could get out of that.”

Ryan Planes, one of the fishermen, recalled the extraordinary rescue to King 5 News. He said, “I saw what looked like a life raft in the distance and ran inside and put the binoculars on him and then he shot off a flare. We pulled him on board. He gave me a big hug and it was emotional.” Planes added that they then made him breakfast and the man “drank three bottles of water”.

Ryan Planes also shared a picture of the life raft on Facebook. He wrote, “Scooped an American tuna fisherman out of the water this morning; he was out on the raft for 13 days”.

In response to one of the comments, Ryan Planes mentioned that the survivor had exhausted all food and water. He managed to catch a fish using gear available in the life raft.

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