A cruise ship pianist has been found alive about 20 miles off the Californian coast after falling from a Royal Caribbean vessel.
Two fishermen rescued the unidentified man in the Pacific Ocean after he had been treading water without a life jacket for approximately nine hours.
Sean Norton and Grant Garrett were returning home after a morning marlin fishing near Catalina Island when they saw the man in the water.
“I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s a human being. Stop the boat; let’s get all of our lines in’,” Mr Garrett told CBS News.
The fisherman said that once they brought him onboard, the man identified himself as a pianist on a cruise ship called the Ovation of the Seas.
“The only thing he said to me was, ‘Thank you. I thought I was gonna die’,” Mr Norton said.
Officials said he may have fallen overboard at about 2.30am, approximately nine hours before he was discovered.
Mr Norton believes the man only survived because of warm ocean temperatures linked to El Niño.
“You have this crazy super El Niño year. This guy was in the water for probably 10 hours, but the water’s 76 degrees (24C). A different year, no way he makes it,” Mr Norton added.
El Niño is a powerful natural climate phenomenon that pushes up global temperatures.
A super El Niño is developing as the natural warming of sea temperatures is forecast to reach more than 3C in the coming months, making this year’s weather event the largest since the 19th century.
The fishermen issued an emergency maritime call once the man was aboard and Newport Beach lifeguards arrived to help.
“It was approximately 15 to 20 miles offshore, pretty much in the middle of the ocean,” Adam Yacenda, the Newport Beach Lifeguard Battalion chief, told CBS.
The Coast Guard said in a statement it had received a report from “a Good Samaritan who recovered a conscious individual from the water” and that the circumstances surrounding the crew member’s fall from the cruise ship remain under investigation.
The Ovation of the Seas returned to Los Angeles on Friday and disembarked all passengers without disruption.
The Telegraph approached Royal Caribbean Group for a response.
In a statement to the BBC, a Royal Caribbean Group spokesman said: “We are providing support and assistance to our crew member during this difficult time.
“To respect the privacy of our employee, we have no additional details to share.”
The Ovation of the Seas is a Quantum-class cruise ship that has bumper cars, a Broadway-style theatre and 17 restaurants.