An Oklahoma couple, Nathan and Kim Maker, were found alive after a 38-hour ordeal drifting in the Gulf of Mexico. The miraculous rescue followed a massive 36-hour Coast Guard search.
Oklahoma, Bollywood Fever: A missing Oklahoma couple who vanished off the coast of Texas were found alive after a grueling 38-hour search that had family and friends fearing the worst.
Nathan and Kim Maker disappeared after diving into the Gulf of Mexico, prompting the US Coast Guard to initiate a massive 36-hour search spanning 1,600 miles. “People don’t survive that and not have a story to tell,” said Lisa Shearin, a diver who was on the boat with the couple.
Stranded in the water for 38 hours, Nathan and Kim drifted along the Gulf waiting for rescue. They had gone diving with a few others off the Texas coast when they were separated from their group. The others made it back safely but noticed Nathan and Kim floating away. Attempts to jump back into the water to save them were thwarted by heavy rain. “The rain was so hard that you couldn’t see outside,” Shearin said. “It stormed and the winds were atrocious, the waves were atrocious.”
“A huge swell comes in and engulfs Kim and Nathan totally. When the swell rolls out, they’re nowhere to be found,” said Charles Owen, a relative of the couple. Other divers immediately dived back into the water to search for their friends. “It wasn’t like, ‘Hey guys, do you have anything better to do tomorrow?’ It was like, no we’re staying out and we’re looking,” Shearin said.
When the search by the divers yielded no results, they alerted the US Coast Guard, who took over the search. About 24 hours into the search, family members began fearing the worst. “We determined that we were probably going to end the search this morning if they didn’t find anything last night,” Owen said.
Family members prayed for Nathan and Kim’s safe return. Their prayers seemed to be answered when the lost pair spotted a plane flying over the Gulf of Mexico. “They take their dive flashlights and start signaling their SOS signal to that plane. That plane saw them,” Owen said.
Just eight hours before the search was to be officially called off, a ship was sent to rescue the couple and bring them to safety. “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 said.
The couple recalled feeling intense uncertainty as a storm raged over them for hours on end. “Even when the swell came over, they found them together,” Owen said. “They have a greater purpose, obviously. God truly did spare them,” Shearin added.
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