Briton rescued from Channel after days clinging to buoy was ‘trying to kayak to Spain’

Father of 28-year-old said he ‘just broke up with his girlfriend’

The Briton was trying to kayak to Spain (EMKvissers)

A British man rescued from the Channel after surviving day by clinging onto a buoy had been trying to kayak to Spain, his rescuers say.

Daniel Lewis, 28, was found by Dutch fishermen wearing only a pair of swimming shorts.

He was suffering from severe hyperthermia and dehydration when he was brought onboard the cutter ship De Madelaine from Urk, the Netherlands.

The young man told one of the fishermen that he left Dover on a kayak on 15 October and he had planned to go to Spain.

Tunis Van Luut, 41, captain of the fishing vessel told The Mirror: “He is very lucky to be alive, he was full of spirit to be alive - I could see in his eyes, he was so happy to see us, he took us in his arms, when he was coming on board I could see his conditions was finished, he had nothing left to give.”

The skipper added that Mr Lewis was at sea for 12 days but on the buoy for four or five of them, managing to drink rainwater periodically.

Richard Lewis, his father, saw photos of his son on the news. The 28-year-old’s father had been anxious about his son’s whereabouts having not heard from him in weeks.

The man had just broken up with his girlfriend his father reportedly said (EMKvissers)

He said that the last thing he heard about him was that he broke up with his girlfriend.

The Blackpool local told MailOnline: “I had no idea he was planning anything like this. [Daniel] has had a lot of problems and he has been moving around a lot. He has been living between Liverpool, Wrexham and Birmingham.”

The concerned father added that his son has never been kayaking before.

The man being brought on board (EMKvissers)

French authorities told NOS that the man had spent an estimated 48 hours clinging to the buoy for life.

He was later airlifted by the French coast guard to the intensive care unit of a hospital in Boulogne-sur-Mer, where he was able to talk but in a “bad shape”, reports say.