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Kayaker Rescued From Long Island Sound Tells Harrowing Tale Of Survival

NORWALK, Conn. — A fisherman whose kayak sank in Long Island Sound had a harrowing tale of survival to tell after he was rescued from Greens Ledge Lighthouse off the coast of Norwalk, according to CBS News.  

56-year-old Michael Diaz in Norwalk Hospital

56-year-old Michael Diaz in Norwalk Hospital

Photo Credit: CBS screenshot
A kayaker was rescued after being stranded overnight on Norwalk’s Greens Ledge Lighthouse.

A kayaker was rescued after being stranded overnight on Norwalk’s Greens Ledge Lighthouse.

Photo Credit: File

Michael Diaz, 56, spent 17 hours treading water as he drifted as much as 20 miles across the Sound, from Lloyd Harbor, N.Y., where he was fishing for striped bass on Saturday, CBS News said.  

But his kayak flipped and sank, along with his cellphone, as a storm moved in. Diaz, who was wearing a life jacket, drifted all night from Port Jefferson, N.Y., back to Lloyd Harbor, and then north across the Sound to near Stamford and then Norwalk, where he spotted the lighthouse at daybreak, Diaz told CBS News.

He swam about 2 miles to Greens Ledge, where he was spotted by fishermen and rescued by the Suffolk County Police Marine Unit on Sunday morning, CBS News said.  

"What got me through the night, light will come, I'll be seen," he told CBS News. "So that last hour and a half, I just put my head down and swam to the lighthouse. It was life and death."

Diaz was treated for dehydration and hypothermia at Norwalk Hospital.

Click here for the story at CBS News.

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