Last Wednesday, five scuba divers struggling underwater for hours off the coast of Hawaii were rescued by a sailing couple who heard cries for help and spotted “five little dots” in the vast ocean.
Camila Storki and her husband were on a yacht heading from Kaneohe to Honolulu when they heard frantic pleading coming from the water. she told local station Hawaii News Now.
Scuba divers become separated from the boat during a tour and are left clinging to each other to survive.
“We were passing through Hanauma and going around the Chinese wall,” Storki told local media. “I heard cries for help and started looking in the ocean and saw five little dots.”
she said in some words Instagram post The couple said they rushed towards the group, where one of the divers was “grey-haired, hypothermic and vomiting.”
But the couple were unable to get the five people safely aboard the boat, so they immediately alerted the coast guard, who circled them for 45 minutes until rescuers arrived.
Stolki said on social media that she and her husband “kept her spirits up by talking to her and offering her water.”
She posted a video of the dramatic discovery, showing five people wearing scuba gear as the waves crashed.
When the Coast Guard helicopter arrived, a boat containing five scuba divers also appeared at the same time.
“A helicopter arrived on scene and communicated the location to the (dive boat), which then arrived on scene to pick up the diver,” the Coast Guard said in a statement to HNN.
The Coast Guard added that the boat “lost” five divers, but heard over the radio that a yacht had found them.
Dive company Aaron's Dive Shop told the station they are reviewing what happened and steps to prevent another near-tragedy.
