Photo: Suffolk County Police Department
A New York man was rescued after treading water for five hours on Monday (July 31). The Suffolk County Police Department that that 63-year-old Dan Ho went for an early morning swim at Cedar Beach in Babylon when the current pulled him out into the Atlantic Ocean.
After treading water for several hours, Ho found a fishing pole in the water and tied his shirt to the pole to create a flag. He started waving it in the air, and a short while later, two men, Jim Hohorst and Michael Ross, spotted him treading in the water. They rushed over and pulled him into their boat. He was about 2.5 miles off the shore when he was rescued.
"He was blue, [his] body gray," Ross told WABC. "He was shaking, totally hyperthermic. [We] wrapped him in towels."
The two men radioed for help and met a rescue boat, which took Ho. He was then taken to the United States Coast Guard Station-Fire Island, where he was met by a Coast Guard medic and treated for hypothermia. An ambulance was called and transported Ho to the hospital. Officials have not provided any additional details about his condition.