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LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — The two people who went missing while riding personal watercraft off the coast of Long Beach over the weekend are sharing their stories of survival after they were rescued by first responders.
Paul Carbullido Jr., who was found 16 hours after he was first reported missing, spoke with CBS LA over the phone while still recovering in the hospital. He was one of two people who got separated from the large group they had rented the gear from near Rainbow Harbor.
He says that when he was found by U.S. Coast Guard personnel on Monday morning, his body temperature was only 86 degrees.
Donna Dubray, who was with Carbullido when he fell off the watercraft, says that he temporarily went unconscious during the ordeal. She says that he had fallen off when he ran into her wake as they rode past the breakwall near Alamitos Bay Landing.
“I was saying, ‘You have to swim,'” Dubray said. “He was saying, ‘No, no, no. Don’t splash, don’t splash. The sharks are gonna get us.'”
Despite her attempts to help him climb back onboard the watercraft, she was unable to do so. She called the company that they rented the watercraft from, but the water got rough and she decided to swim for help as Carbullido drifted away.
She eventually made it to the breakwall, where she screamed for help. Her calls were heard by a good Samaritan in a fishing boat, who promptly called lifeguards to help. She was saved and the search for Carbullido then got underway.
“My whole body was just shaking. I couldn’t even walk because my legs were just jumping,” Dubray said. “My teeth were chattering and I was so cold. I lay down on the rocks, and I screamed bloody murder.”
Coast Guard search and rescue crews found Carbullido floating nearly three miles south of the Seal Beach Pier at around 10:45 a.m. He said that his life vest helped him paddle all night.
He was just about ready to give up and was having a conversation with God when the helicopter crew arrived.
“I appreciate all the emergency response team and the search and rescue mission,” said Carbullido’s younger brother, Robert. “They found him.”
Dubray is also grateful for the response from emergency personnel, who never gave up on her longtime friend.
“The relief was so great, I just cried,” she said. “I was so happy he made it.”
Dubray and Carbullido both said that they received no instructions from the rental company and that when they picked up the personal watercraft on Sunday night it was about an hour before the company closed.
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