MATAGORDA, Texas — We're learning more about a couple rescued after nearly 40 hours lost at sea before being rescued by U.S. Coast Guard crews near Matagorda, Texas.
Kim and Nathan Maker were on a diving trip in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, July 24, when they were swept away during a bad storm.
"It stormed and the winds were atrocious, the waves were atrocious," friend and fellow diver Lisa Shearin told KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City. "The rain was so hard that you couldn't see outside."
"A huge swell comes in and engulfs Kim and Nathan totally. When the swell rolls out, they're nowhere to be found," Charles Owen, a family member, said.
The experienced divers from Edmond, Oklahoma watched helplessly as their dive boat disappeared from view. They tethered themselves together and tried to keep swimming to fend off hypothermia.
'It's an amazing story'
Meanwhile, the Makers' friends on the dive boat had notified the Coast Guard and an extensive search was underway involving boats, helicopters and a plane.
"The weather was bad. The ceiling was low, it was difficult to see smaller objects in a big sea," Torrey Bertheau with the US Coast Guard told us on Friday.
Search crews had covered approximately 1,656 square miles over 36 hours before a Coast Guard plane spotted a flashing light in the water early Friday.
The couple was picked up by a Coast Guard speedboat and taken to a hospital in nearby Freeport.
"It's an amazing story ... we are trained to search for people like they're our family members and never give up. It's a really great story," Bertheau said.
The Makers were treated for minor injuries, dehydration and jellyfish stings but are doing well.
Back in Oklahoma, family and friends are grateful.
"You know It was God performing a miracle, using the Coast Guard's eyes and ears and their technology and that's what saved them at the last minute," Owen told KOCO.
"They have a greater purpose, obviously," Spearin said. "God truly did spare them."