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Photo: Mohssen Assanimoghaddam / picture alliance / dpa
Sea rescuers and a boat crew helped a shipwrecked sailor in the Baltic Sea who had apparently clung to a floating trap for several hours.
As the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked Persons (DGzRS) announced on Thursday, the crew of a yacht discovered and reported the sailor in a trap in the Szczecin Lagoon on Wednesday afternoon.
Even before the sea rescuers from the Ueckermünde station arrived on site, a second sailing yacht turned to free the shipwrecked man.
The boat crew was able to reach the approximately 70-year-old man from Poland and take him on board, it said.
During the manoeuvre, however, the yacht's propeller itself got caught in the trap.
According to the information, the sea rescuers who arrived shortly afterwards took over the first aid of the shipwrecked and found a body temperature of only 34 degrees Celsius.
After the hypothermic man was stabilized, the sea rescue boat drove back to Ueckermünde.
There the patient was handed over to the emergency services.
Castaway's boat found
The casualty said he had fallen overboard his motor glider, which was about seven meters long.
He was able to save himself on the trap and stayed there for about three hours.
While the patient was taken to the hospital, the sea rescuers set course again for the sailing yacht caught in the trap.
According to the information, they freed the boat and towed it into the port.
The emergency services then found the shipwrecked man's boat, it said.
They hauled in its sails and also towed it into port.
wit/AFP