New York Man Swept Out to Sea Treaded Water for 5 Hours, Made Flag to Signal Rescuers

A Long Island, New York man was rescued from the ocean after treading water for more than five hours on Monday.

Suffolk County police reported that 63-year-old Dan Ho went swimming off a beach at around 5 a.m. when the current pulled him about two and a half miles south from the shore.

He kept himself floating until he eventually found a broken fishing pole in the water, police said in a news release.

He tied his shirt to the pole and waved it at passing boats to alert them.

Ho was eventually spotted by Jim Hohorst and Michael Ross, who were out fishing.

"He was in shock and pretty incoherent at the time," Hohorst, a former FDNY Marine Bureau officer told Newsday.  “We figured he had maybe an hour left. He was very hypothermic and said he had been drinking a lot of salt water."

The fishermen alerted authorities via radio and he was taken to a Coast Guard station.

EMS workers provided first aid at the shore until Ho was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Police released a photo showing the exhausted Ho being treated after his ordeal.