Featured Image Credit: EMK-vissers
Topics: UK News
Jake Massey
A British kayaker who capsized in the English Channel survived for two days by eating seaweed and mussels. Watch him get airlifted here:
The unnamed 28-year-old was discovered clinging to a buoy in the Channel yesterday (Thursday 27 October), having departed from Dover and capsized on his way to France.
Miraculously, he managed to survive for two days munching on seaweed and mussels, according to local reports, until he was spotted 'waving like a madman' by cutter ship De Madelaine, from Urk in the Netherlands.
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Teunis de Boer, the boat's skipper, told Dutch publication De Telegraaf: "I was busy with the administration and checked to make sure we weren't getting too close to a buoy. And then suddenly I saw something crazy moving at the buoy.
"I grabbed a pair of binoculars and saw a young man wearing only a swimming trunks waving at us like a madman. He was clearly in distress."
The crew threw a life buoy in and the clearly drained bloke used the little energy he had left to grab hold of it.
Once on board, they gave him a few bottles of water and a Snickers bar and he eventually began talking, explaining that he had been there for days, eating seaweed, mussels and crabs.
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De Boer recalled: "It turned out to be a 28-year-old English boy who had taken a kayak from Dover to France. But at some point his kayak capsized and all he could do was cling to a buoy.
"He looked a bit confused, so we don't know exactly how long. You can bet that you can't sleep on such a buoy, especially with the rough weather of the past few days.
"It's a miracle he survived, it's almost a boy's book."
It's even more miraculous, given De Boer and his crew had never planned to be in those waters.
He explained: "It was not the plan at all to fish in that region, but we went sailing after the catch in the morning was a bit disappointing.
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"And then of course: we don't check every buoy to see if there happens to be a person in need. Because yes, something like this has never happened before."
The man was suffering from severe hypothermia and his eyes were 'very deep in his sockets'.
The crew warmed him with blankets and called the French coastguard, who airlifted him to hospital.
"People then think that you should quickly put someone under a warm shower, but that is completely incorrect. You have to warm someone up as naturally as possible," De Boer said. "That's what we were taught at school, especially for situations like this.
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"He was very grateful. Talking cost him too much strength, so he made heart movements with his hand at us.
"We are just happy that we can do something for our fellow human beings."