(NewsNation) — A 22-year-old free diver was rescued by family and friends after being swept out to sea off Key West, Florida.
On Jan. 23, Dylan Gartenmayer was diving with friends when the current separated him from his companions for two hours, USA Today reported. Sean Caggiano shared video of the rescue on Facebook.
“We found him,” friends and family shouted once Gartenmayer was spotted in the distance.
“The current ended up taking me faster and faster from them, and it got to the point where the boat just disappeared,” Gartenmayer said in an interview with USA Today. “At that point, I realized things were starting to get serious.”
Gartenmayer found a piece of bamboo to keep himself afloat before his family eventually spotted and rescued him.
“They (Coast Guard) would’ve come and found me eventually, but by some miracle, my parents and everyone else on board my grandfather’s boat had ended up driving and basically landed right on top of me,” Gartenmayer told the newspaper.