• After his kayak capsized and he was forced to spend days holding on to a buoy, a British man was saved by a Dutch fishing boat in the English Channel.
• The British man was soon flown to a hospital in nearby Boulogne by a French coast guard helicopter.
• The man claimed to have left Dover in a kayak on October 15—12 days before being picked up, according to the fishing boat’s skipper.

After his kayak capsized and he was forced to spend days holding on to a buoy, a British man was saved by a Dutch fishing boat in the English Channel.

Teunis de Boer, the captain, claimed he had just happened to spot the kayaker desperately waiving as his boat Madeleine by.

The captain informed Dutch media that the man “was obviously in distress.”

The man was given water and a chocolate bar before French officials had him evacuated to the hospital.

The drama took place late on Thursday morning in a shipping channel of the Dover Strait, commonly known as the Pas de Calais, several kilometers to the west of the French coast.

The boat’s captain claimed that while making sure they weren’t navigating too close to the Colbert Nord buoy, he suddenly noticed movement on it. He told a private website, “I grabbed up the binoculars and saw a young man just in his swimming trunks waving at us like a crazy.”

The British man has pulled aboard after they tossed him lifebuoys. According to Mr. De Boer, “He was covered with bruises and claimed that he’d kept alive by scraping mussels off the buoy and eating small crabs and seaweed.” The crew wrapped him in blankets since he was hypothermic and dehydrated.

The British man was soon flown to a hospital in nearby Boulogne by a French coast guard helicopter.

URKER VISSERS REDDEN BRITSE KAJAKKER | De bemanning van de kotter BL936072 ‘Madelaine’ van rederij De Boer & Zonen, heeft rond 11 uur in het Kanaal een Engelse kajakker gered van een lichtboei. Hij werd bij toeval ontdekt toen de kotter in de buurt van de Cobalt-bank ging vissen. pic.twitter.com/8Oq1AZ1u2P

— EMK-vissers (@EMKvissers) October 27, 2022

The length of his survival while hanging to the buoy is not certain. The man claimed to have left Dover in a kayak on October 15—12 days before being picked up, according to the fishing boat’s skipper.

However, the French marine perfect for the North Sea and the Channel claimed in a statement that he had departed Dover some 48 hours earlier.

The prefecture advised anyone considering crossing the Channel of the dangers associated with doing so, noting that the conditions were frequently extremely dangerous and that more than 400 merchant ships traveled through it daily.

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