Cruise ship pianist rescued after being found treading water without life jacket

Cruise ship pianist rescued after being found treading water without life jacket

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Two fishermen rescued a man found floating in the Pacific Ocean without a life jacket about 10 miles off the Newport Beach coast Friday morning.

Sean Norton and Grant Garrett were returning from a fishing trip near Catalina Island when their boat captain spotted someone in the water. The fishermen pulled the man aboard, Norton told KCBS.

“He was in total shock,” Norton told KCBS.

Garrett told KCBS the man said he was a pianist aboard Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas. The man told Norton, “Thank you. I thought I was gonna die.”

The boat crew sent out an emergency maritime call, and Newport Beach lifeguards responded. Lifeguard Battalion Chief Adam Yacenda told KCBS their boat found the fishermen about 15 to 20 miles offshore.

Crews took the man to shore and then to a hospital. He is expected to survive.

Lifeguard officials believe the man went overboard around 2:30 a.m., about nine hours before he was found. The U.S. Coast Guard has not released his name and is investigating how he went overboard.

Norton told KCBS the water temperature was about 76 degrees, which he believes...