Alaskan fisherman survives 24 hours adrift at sea in plastic tub after storm
Teenager survives 24 hours adrift in chilly seas after boat capsizes in storm
A 19-year-old fisherman whose boat capsized in the chilly waters of southern Alaska floated for more than 24 hours in a 1.2-metre plastic fish tub, singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat to keep his spirits up.
Ryan Harris was rescued from his battle with 2.5-metre waves by a coastguard helicopter, which had joined a massive search of the waters around Sitka, Alaska, for Harris and his crewmate, Stonie Huffman, the Sitka Daily Sentinel reported.
Huffman survived by donning a buoyant survival suit, grabbing the lid of one of the fishing bins, and battling the crashing waves to head towards shore.
"It's truly a miracle they survived," Sitka Mountain Rescue director Don Kluting said.
The two men had set out for a routine day of fishing for coho salmon when they were hit with a failed hydraulics system and high waves crashing around their aluminium boat.
Just as they managed to make repairs to the hydraulic system, the boat went down a steep wave that dumped a deluge of water in the bow of the boat. Almost immediately, a second large wave hit the stern, and the two men found themselves in the water, with the boat going down.