YARMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - A Medford man reported missing by his girlfriend Monday after not returning from a boating trip was found early Tuesday, clinging to life beneath an overturned boat off Cape Cod, authorities said.
Yarmouth Police, along with search and rescue teams from several surrounding communities, responded at around 1:20 a.m. to an area near the Bass River and Smugglers Beach. Police said they found a pickup truck and boat trailer that belonged to 36-year-old Arthur Moscufo.
Crews searched along the shore for several hours before a Coast Guard helicopter spotted a 14-foot aluminum boat capsized in Nantucket Sound and someone waving for help at around 4:20 a.m.
Rescue crews said they pulled a “severely hypothermic man” out of the water. They said he had been “clinging to his overturned boat” for about 12 hours and was unable to call for help because his phone had gone overboard.
“It was probably one of the biggest reliefs I have ever felt in my life,” said Moscufo, who spoke to 7News over the phone as he recovered at Cape Cod Hospital.
Nantucket Sound is approximately two-and-a-half miles southwest of the Bass River.
Moscufo was taken to shore and then transported to Cape Cod Hospital for treatment, where he is recovering in the ICU.
Rescue crews said Moscufo was “unbelievably lucky” to survive the incident.
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