A Florida family had some panicky moments when one of them got washed out to sea and disappeared. The diver was miraculously rescued hours later. A video showing their heartwarming reunion has gone viral on the internet.

Dylan Gartenmayer, 22, was free diving by a reef off the coast of Key West on Thursday when he was caught in a powerful Gulf Stream current and got carried away from his boat, reported NBC Miami. His family and friends immediately launched a rescue mission for him.

Gartenmayer's family, with help from the U.S. Coast Guard, went to his last known location and searched for him through both air and sea.

"We had the coordinates that were given to us, but he obviously wasn't on those," his mother told reporters.

After searching for him for hours, one family member spotted buoys that appeared to be tied together in the water. When they approached closer to it, they saw Gartenmayer.

"There he is," the family member shouted in happiness.

One of them captured the moment they spotted Gartenmayer in the water. The video has since gone viral on social media.

"It's a miracle. We landed right on my son. And a needle in a haystack. You're in the middle of the ocean. And that's God," the mother added.

Gartenmayer revealed he was free diving at about 35 feet when the current swept him away into the waters as deep as 150 feet. He was underwater for at least two minutes, WFLA reported.

"I got to a point where the boat had disappeared. And from that point on I realized that things were starting to get serious," he recalled in a TikTok video, Yahoo News reported.

While at the sea, Gartenmayer noticed a large piece of bamboo drifting near him and managed to rest for some time. He then decided to swim two kilometers to the closest reef and somehow created a makeshift raft by cutting three buoys and tying them together.

"I could see Coast Guard out in the distance to the west of me. I could see their blue lights, the helicopter going, doing their grid pattern," he added. "My bamboo had started drifting away from me."

"My mom took my dive gear. She just started hugging, crying," Gartenmayer said.

The Coast Guard said it was grateful to learn that the diver was safe.

"Too often missing diver cases don't have positive outcomes, and the circumstances of this case didn't forecast for one," said Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Tatum, search and rescue mission coordinator, told NBC Miami. "Sunset, weather conditions and Dylan's outfit were playing against us in this case, but his foresight to lash mooring balls together to make him a bigger target in the water was smart."

Read more
RTX1QT33
Sea Reuters