A 53-year-old man is recovering Tuesday after he spent about 15 hours in the ocean off Long Beach after falling from a jet ski.
Paul Anthony Carbullido had last been seen at about 7 p.m. Sunday in the ocean east of the Queen’s Gate Entrance channel “after separating from a personal watercraft,” according to the Long Beach Police Department.
Police said Carbullido, who fell off a jet ski while riding with a group of other people, was considered at risk, but did not elaborate.
A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman told City News Service on Monday morning that Carbullido was found shortly after 11 a.m. and was alive and talking before being taken to a hospital.
He survived with the aid of a life preserver, and had mild signs of hyperthermia, ABC7 reported.
A woman who also fell into the water managed to swim to the breakwater and was rescued by lifeguards, Long Beach Fire Department Capt. Jack Crabtree told CNS.
The emergency was first reported at about 10 p.m. Sunday with a 911 call describing a group of people who went out on jet skis and realized two members of their group were missing, Crabtree said.
The woman, in her 40s, swam to the rocks that make up the breakwater between Queen’s Gate and LA Light, where the skipper of a 20-foot power boat heard her screams at about 10:30 p.m., Crabtree said. The skipper called 911, and Long Beach lifeguards rescued the woman. She was then transferred to an LAFD fire boat and taken to an awaiting ambulance for transport to a hospital.
The missing jet skis were recovered outside the breakwater, Crabtree said. One was found at 1:15 a.m. Monday and the other at 1:45 a.m.
Four LBFD fire boats, LAPD boats, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel and a Coast Guard helicopter were involved in the search for the missing man, LBFD and Coast Guard officials said.