68-year-old scuba diver survives 17 hours lost at sea

Tuesday, November 8, 2016, 8:11 AM - A great many things went wrong for Australian John Leslie Brierley when he decided to go scuba diving off the coast of Queensland.

The 68 year old was rescued by the coast guard Monday after spending 17 hours adrift at sea, and is recovering in hospital.

"The chopper crew were fantastic, the hospital staff have been fantastic, the police did a great [job]," Brierley told ABC News.

Brierley was out sailing when he passed a famous shipwreck, and with conditions excellent, decided to do some scuba exploration. But strong currents began separating him from his boat, and he wasn't able to narrow the gap. Sapped of energy, he opted to drift instead, and by the time he was rescued, he was 25 km away from his yacht.

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He did own a personal locator beacon, but had taken it out for cleaning and forgot to return it to its case the day of the dive, making his predicament even more dire.

"That was a tragedy because if that had gone off the helicopter would have come straight to me and they'd know exactly who I was and what was happening," Brierley said.

Fortunately, he did email a friend before setting to let them know to contact authorities if he didn't make it back by a certain time, but by the time searchers found him, he had had a hard ordeal.

"I swam from 2:30 in the morning until 12:00 when they picked me up," he says. "No food, no water, and I'd been awake since 4:30 that morning and I'm just absolutely amazed that I had the energy to do it."

The close call doesn't seem to have deterred Brierley, who says he's 'not put off' solo scuba diving.

SOURCE: ABC News