A fisherman lost at sea for nearly two weeks and presumed dead was rescued. INSIDE EDITION has the miraculous story.
A just-released Coast Guard video of a truly amazing rescue at sea. A fisherman presumed dead was discovered safe and sound, 12 days after he vanished in the middle of the Pacific.
Ron Ingraham, 67, made a desperate distress call on Thanksgiving when his 25-foot sailboat, The Malia, became disabled off the coast of Hawaii.
The Coast Guard mounted a massive effort to find him, but to no avail.
On December first, his son Zakary got the terrible news they were giving up the search.
INSIDE EDITION's Jim Moret asked son Zakary, "When they told you they were going to be calling off the search, what did you say to them?"
Zakary said, "'I don't think you should call off the search. I think my dad is still alive.'"
Then, on Tuesday morning, a miracle. After two weeks of radio silence, the Coast Guard heard this: "Got a mayday here, mayday. This is The Malia. Anybody picking this up?"
It was Ingraham. A rescue plane spotted his crippled sailboat, a little speck in the ocean.
A nearby U.S. Navy destroyer rushed to the location, and launched a motorized raft to rescue the fisherman.
He was hungry and dehydrated, but otherwise okay.
"Yesterday I got a phone call from the Coast Guard and they said, 'Hey, we found your dad.' I said, 'Well, did you find his boat too?' And the guy says, 'Oh, we found his boat and we found him and he's alive and ok.' Twelve days later."
His family was planning a funeral for the missing fisherman this Saturday. Now they'll have a welcome home celebration, and the best Christmas ever.
"That's the best Christmas present ever, for real," concluded the fisherman's son.
