GEORGIA — A 19-year-old from Bossier City said he spent 10 hours “talking to God” after a rip current pulled him into the Atlantic Ocean while on vacation in Georgia.
“I didn’t want to die out there,” Blake Spataro told CNN affiliate WJAX. “I was talking to God the entire night.”
Spataro said he was sitting on the beach along the ocean when the rip current pulled him out to sea. He screamed for help, but no one could hear him because of the waves.
This 19-year-old spent nearly 10 HOURS in the ocean fighting for his life!
“I was all alone with no one to talk to except myself and God.”The teen shares his remarkable story only to @ActionNewsJax at 10 pic.twitter.com/BHBBsC3o0i
— Amber Krycka (@AmberANjax) July 12, 2018
“I wanted to live,” he said. “I thought I was too young to die, and I didn’t want it to end there.”
The U.S. Coast Guard, along with several other agencies, spent hours looking for Spataro using helicopters and boats. Spataro’s dad, according to WJAX, spent all night walking up and down the beach searching for his son.
“Whenever I grew tired, I mainly floated on my back,” the teen said.
Just when Spataro was about to give up hope, he saw the lights of a Coast Guard boat approaching.
Coast Guard officials said Spataro’s survival is something they’ve never seen.
