Man Stuck on Uninhabited Island Is Rescued

It's the stuff of movies, complete with a happy ending. A man who spent three days stranded on an uninhabited island in the Bahamas was rescued by the US Coast Guard on Friday. Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders credited the stranded sailor for having "the proper safety equipment on [his] vessel. Without seeing the flare, the case may not have had a successful outcome." Indeed, the unnamed man—described by NBC News as a 64-year-old Bahamian national—was able to fire flares that were spotted, leading to his eventual rescue.

The US Coast Guard dropped food, water, and a radio at the scene, enabling the sailor to communicate to them that he had been "stranded for three days after his vessel became disabled during his voyage." He was picked up from the small island of Cay Sal, which measures less than 6 square miles and is located "in the Straits of Florida north of Cuba and west of the Bahamas," per ABC News. NBC News adds that Coast Guard aircraft regularly patrol the Florida Straits and spotted the man's red flare in the course of doing so. The man has since been transferred to the Royal Bahamas Defense Force in good health, per a Coast Guard press release. (More stranded stories.)