A lobsterman was rescued Wednesday around 3 p.m. after falling off his boat and floating at sea for nearly 12 hours.
Jonathon Aldridge, a 43-year-old from Oakdale, New York, was moving a cooler in the back of his 44-foot lobster vessel named “Anna Mary” when the handle broke off and he fell off the back of the boat.
The rest of the crew was asleep while Aldridge fell and he was not wearing a life jacket. He stayed afloat by tucking his arms under his rubber boots, UPI.com reports.
After the crew realized he was missing, the Coast Guard started a rescue effort that covered 780 square miles of water off of the New England coast. Crews from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and local fisherman all assisted in the search.
A helicopter finally spotted him floating 43 miles south of Montauk, New York.
According to Yahoo Aldridge was treated for dehydration, exposure, and hypothermia, and stayed over one night at a hospital in Cape Cod.