Sailor missing at sea for 2 weeks found alive in life raft 70 miles off Washington coast

A sailor missing for nearly two weeks was found alive off the coast of Washington State's Cape Flattery by a Good Samaritan two days after the Coast Guard suspended the search for him and one other person. 

The two people on the boat had left Washington's Grays Harbor on Oct. 12 in a 43-foot vessel called Evening. They were meant to return to the area on Oct. 15, the Pacific Northwest Coast Guard said in a social media post on Tuesday The agency searched 14,000 square miles of water before suspending the search on Wenesday. 

The unidentified man was found in a life raft that was about 70 miles northwest of Cape Flattery, the Coast Guard said on social media on Thursday. It's not clear how the good Samaritans found the man, but a photo shared by the Coast Guard shows their boat approaching the life raft. The photo shows two people standing on the edge of the vessel and the missing man sitting up in the raft. 

#BreakingNews Photo of the life raft as the good Samaritan vessel approached it this morning. pic.twitter.com/Nf6ChXjCWO

— USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) October 26, 2023

Officials did not name the rescuers but KING-TV identified them as Ryan Planes and his uncle John, from Sooke, British Columbia.

"We pulled him on board. He gave me a big hug and it was emotional," John told the station. 

John told KING-TV the rescued man said he was alone on the raft for 13 days, and after running out of foof, he caught a salmon and ate it to survive. 

"We made him breakfast. He drank three bottles of water," he told the station. "He was pretty hungry, poor guy."

The rescued man is said to be in stable condition, the Coast Guard said, and was transported to shore by the Canadian Coast Guard and a Canadian rescue agency. 

A map shared by the Coast Guard showed where the man was found in relation to where the Evening departed from, with the harbor starred and the life raft's location marked with a pin.

#BreakingNews (1/2) #UPDATE 1 of the 2 missing mariners was located alive in a life raft approx. 70 miles NW of Cape Flattery, by good Samaritans. The man was transported to shore by @CoastGuardCAN in coordination with @VicJRCC_CCCOS. He's reported to be in stable condition. pic.twitter.com/Qb2QhwIKb3

— USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) October 26, 2023

The second man remains missing. The Coast Guard said that the incident "remains under investigation." 

The Coast Guard did not say if the search would resume. 

In:
• Oceans
• United States Coast Guard
• Washington
• Missing Person
• Canada

Kerry Breen

Kerry Breen is a news editor and reporter for CBS News. Her reporting focuses on current events, breaking news and substance use.