Miracle Rescue- Man falls off Boat Without Life Jacket in a shark Infested Sea for 29 hours

       On Saturday, in the first extract from his new book, father-of-two Brett Archibald described how, during a boat trip off Indonesia with friends, he fell overboard in the dark without a life jacket.
So began an appalling 29-hour ordeal. Today, in the dramatic concluding part, he recalls how he nearly lost his eyes to dive-bombing gulls.

        Nineteen hours! It’s 19 endless hours since I fell off the boat I chartered with eight friends to take us to an Indonesian island. How have I stayed alive? I wasn’t even in good shape to start with; I’d been retching over the side of the boat, the Naga Laut, when I suddenly lost consciousness.
Now, as I continue to tread water, I’m feeling very thirsty and tired. My eyelids close, and then — wham! Something hits me on the back of my head.

          The wallop forces me wide awake. I feel a rush of air over my face, then hear an odd rustling in the gathering darkness. Something, a menacing presence, is moving fast above me.

         Tony Eltherington, the Barrenjoey’s captain, has been hired by nine Australian surfers who are celebrating a friend’s 50th birthday, as we were on the Naga Laut.
No one calls him Tony: he’s been ‘Doris’ since he was teased as a youth for having blond hair — like Doris Day’s. Now he’s one of the most experienced captains in these parts and he’s determined to go in search of the man who fell off a boat.
News of the accident has spread. Doris thinks Brett will still be alive.

       Brett had drifted approximately 50 nautical miles in the open water of the Mentawai Strait. He was found a long way out from the coast of the island of Sipura.
Australian surfer Dave Carbon, a trained lifesaver, reached him just as he was sinking under the water.
       Brett’s blood pressure was dangerously low at 68/44. His face and head were significantly burnt, his tongue engorged, his eyes red and painful and his nose had a gaping hole where the gulls had pecked it.
      On deck, swathed in towels, he was shaky but coherent, describing everything in detail. Doris, beer in hand, shook Brett’s shrivelled hand. ‘He was as red as a rooster and high as a kite,’ Doris said afterwards. A doctor on board supervised Brett’s rehydration and a call was put through to his wife. Anita says Brett poured out his story to her while she sobbed with relief. By 2pm, he was back on the Naga Laut boat. A rapturous reunion ensued, with tears all round.
      That night, Brett returned to the railing he’d fallen from on the upper deck of the Naga Laut. For the first time in his entire ordeal, he wept.

          His tenacity and will to live had been significant factors in his survival. One expert believes 999 out of 1,000 people in the same predicament would have died. A few months later, Brett experienced two severe panic attacks — classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress — and had counselling. His business failed. He started speaking publicly about his experience and raising money for charities.
       Coming so close to death made Brett re-address his priorities — which are now faith, family and friends. He says he knows ‘without a shadow of doubt’ that God was with him during his ordeal.
Source- Dailymail