A 19-year-old on a boogie board vanished off a coastline in Oregon in the dark until rescuers heard a cry for help, fire officials said.
His family reported him missing after 5:30 p.m. Jan. 13 near Haystack Rock, the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District said in a news release.
As a helicopter was called from the U.S. Coast Guard, two firefighters paddled into the waves on a surfboard to find the missing man, officials said.
The waves were eight to 12 feet tall at the time, and it was “pitch black,” rescuers said.
Rescuers then heard a cry for help shortly after 6 p.m. and found the boogie boarder a few minutes later in the water, about 75 yards from the shoreline.
Paramedics checked him for hypothermia, and he refused being taken to a hospital, officials said.
“I cannot express how lucky this guy was to be found; with the large surf and king tides it was a miracle!” Cannon Beach Fire Ocean Safety Division Head, Koa Lyu, said in the release.
“The water was really cold, he wouldn’t have lasted much longer before hypothermia would have set in,” Lyu said.
Cannon Beach is a popular small coastal city in northern Oregon.
Haystack Rock is an iconic rock formation off the coastline.
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