After searching for more than 12 hours, the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday morning rescued a missing jet skier nearly three miles offshore California.
Shortly after 10 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 16, watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach were alerted by a good Samaritan that a woman was stranded on the Long Beach breakwall. A Long Beach Lifeguards rescue boat retrieved the woman and transferred her to emergency medical services on shore, but she reported that her companion remained missing in the water.
The woman reported that she and her companion, 53-year-old Paul Anthony Carbullido Jr., had rented two personal watercraft and departed Rainbow Harbor earlier in the evening. While outside the breakwall, Carbullido fell into the water.
The woman left her personal watercraft and entered the water to assist Carbullido, but was unable to do so. When she tried to reboard and restart her watercraft, she could not. She then swam for an hour to reach the breakwall.
Upon learning that Carbullido remained missing, the Coast Guard issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast to alert vessels in the area and launched multiple Coast Guard aircrews and boat crews to search the area. The search was joined by the Coast Guard Cutter Narwhal, the Long Beach Fire Department, Long Beach Police Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol, and Los Angeles County Fire Department Baywatch Cabrillo.
The search continued through the night, and Coast Guard aircrews spotted both unmanned personal watercraft drifting early Monday morning. At around 10:48 a.m., Coast Guard Air Station San Diego MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew searching approximately 3 miles south of Seal Beach Pier spotted Carbullido alive in the water.
Carbullido, wearing a green life jacket, was floating on his back, and upon seeing the helicopter overhead, waved at the aircrew. He was hoisted aboard with “signs of hypothermia” and was transported to Long Beach Airport, where he was transferred to a Long Beach Fire Department EMS crew.
“This incident highlights the importance of wearing a life jacket at all times when on the water,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jason Caprioli, search and rescue mission coordinator, Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach. “It is the single most important thing you can do to protect yourself.”
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