Man rescued by Coast Guard 530 miles off Cape Cod coast

A man was rescued about 530 miles off the coast of Cape Cod by the Coast Guard.

Niall MacDonald triggered his emergency position-indicating radiobeacon around 12:30 a.m. Friday to signal his distress.

Macdonald had called the United Kingdom Mission Control Center due to sporadic connectivity, and said he was facing 36 hours of rough seas.

His rowboat took on water, and he abandoned the rower for his life raft.

The First Coast Guard District in Boston coordinated with the United Kingdom Mission Control Center Rome to divert a nearby Italian Naval warship to help in rescuing Macdonald, but the ship was 80 miles away from his location.

"The Netherlands ship was the first to arrive on scene, and they were successfully able to take Mr. Macdonald on board," Chief Dwain McCullough, an operations specialist for the United States Coast Guard, said. "He had no apparent injuries, he was just very tired and cold."

The crew on a Netherlands-flagged ship arrived on scene at 5 a.m., and found Macdonald in the life raft.

Rescuers say there were 10-foot seas and 26-knot winds at the time of the rescue.

Cox Media Group