A desperate man was left stranded in the sea for seven hours after he fell from a rubber dinghy.
He thought his time was up when he found himself treading water in a shipping lane.
The man – named only as Mr Chen – had no phone service and the battery was close to dying.
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But he had to keep alert as the propellers of huge shipping liners came dangerously close to sucking him in.
“After an hour or two, when no boat came to rescue me, I slowly fell into despair,” he said.
“I had the feeling that I was definitely going to die there.”
Mr Chen had set off from Wailingding Island near Hong Kong, China.
The outdoor sports enthusiast planned to paddle to an islet about 16 miles away to set up camp.
But he said the sea conditions changed quickly and he found himself being smashed by huge waves.
He said: “This wasn’t my first time paddling in my rubber dinghy.
“I thought it was safe, but I didn’t expect the sea conditions to change so quickly this time.”
One wave toppled his dinghy and he fell into the water, as reported on Need To Know.
Mr Chen, who comes from Zhuhai City, said: “I immediately tried to retrieve my dinghy and oars, but the wind and waves were too strong and I couldn’t catch up.
“All my food and drink and survival tools were in the dinghy, I felt desperate watching them drift away from me.”
Fortunately, he was wearing a life jacket, but the strong current made it almost impossible for him to move.
Stranded in a shipping lane, Mr Chen could only look on as several huge cargo vessels passed by without seeing him.
He added: “When the first cargo ship passed, I could see a few people walking on the deck.
“I thought they may have seen me because they circled around me before leaving.”
Due to hypothermia and dehydration, Mr Chen said he started to hallucinate in the water.
He said: “I mistook the white waves in the distance for sailboats many times.
“I started thinking about my parents and the things I haven’t done in life, unfinished plans and experiences I haven’t had yet.
“I felt so stupid.”
Luckily, he had his mobile phone with him, but he couldn’t get a reception and it was running low on battery.
He said: “The phone had no signal at first so I took two videos and turned it off to save power and wait for an opportunity.”
He had set off at about 7:40am on 25 May.
At about 5pm, Mr Chen turned on his phone and noticed he had a weak signal.
He said: “I quickly raised my phone and sent my location to friends.
“But I was exhausted by then, the phone nearly fell in the water as soon as I raised my hand.
“I could only try my best to hold on.”
Eventually, his friends contacted the emergency services and a rescue team found him at about 7:45pm.
As they were approaching, Mr Chen turned on the torch on his phone so rescuers could spot him in the falling darkness.
When he was lifted onto the rescue boat, he had just 4% battery power left on his phone.
He was taken to a medical centre for health checks and was discharged the next day.
Mr Chen made a silk banner and sent it to the rescue team to thank them for saving his life.
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