A father and his sons were pulled from the Pacific Ocean Saturday in a daring rescue lifeguard are calling miraculous.
A San Diego-based commercial fishing boat turned into a rescue boat after finding the three men drifting in the ocean two miles off the coast of La Jolla.
One of the victims was unconscious in the water when the crew on the fishing boat found him.
The men had been in the water for hours after their boat capsized according to RJ Hudson, captain of the charter boat New Seaforth.
"We saw a man waving his hands and he looked like he clearly needed some help," said a passenger on the charter boat.
The crew reacted quickly - calling for help and maneuvering for a rescue.
"That crew on board the New Seaforth - they did a heroic job of getting the three people on board their boat in my opinion," said Lt. John Everhart with San Diego Lifeguard Services.
But it wasn't just the crew working to save lives - it was an all hands effort.
“We pulled him on the boat pulled him out of the way a couple other people stared CPR immediately," said Steve, one of the rescuers.
Six people including three registered nurses performed CPR on the unconscious victim, taking turns to keep him alive.
Christina Barrett was one of them.
"It was pretty intense and scary,” Barrett said. “He was making movements so we were just yelling at him come on keep breathing."
San Diego lifeguards arrived within 20 minutes and took over first aid as New Seaforth made it back to shore.
"They worked as hard as they could to get him back and he came back and it was good to see him spit some water out and take a breath on his own," Steve said.
Hudson said the victims were a 47-year-old man and his two sons, ages 24 and 18.