Dutch fishermen rescue man holding buoy after days in English Channel

On Thursday morning, Dutch fishermen rescued a man clinging to a buoy in the Pas de Calais. A British man was in the water for several days after his kayak capsized. “He said he left Dover on October 15. He was exhausted and had severe hypothermia,” said Capt. Théunis de Boer from Urk. NOS.

“It was about eleven o’clock. We were sailing in the English Channel and passed a buoy that marked a dry shore. As I recorded in my electronic logbook, something moved on the buoy. I grabbed my binoculars and saw people in bathing suits waving like crazy on top of the buoys,” says De Boer.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. “I gave an audio signal to indicate that I had seen him. There was a fairly strong current, so we sailed towards him with our heads in the current. From the buoy he was 10 meters At a distance, I threw a life buoy into the water and he caught it.”

They took the exhausted man on board. He couldn’t tell how long he had been in the water. “He said he wanted to go to the other side and capsized. Warmed up in the room.He drank a few liters of water in no time.He hadn’t slept in days.His eyes were deep in his eye sockets.”

The Madeleine, carrying three Dutch and two French fishermen, called the French Coast Guard and sent a helicopter with a doctor to the boat. They took the man to the hospital.

French authorities say the man is in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Boulogne-sur-Mer. He is conscious and able to talk to his caregivers, but he is unwell. Based on what he said, authorities believe he was stuck on the buoy for at least 48 hours.