THIS is the extraordinary moment Spanish coastguards rescued a man floating on a blow-up mattress over 20 miles off the Costa del Sol.
Eagled-eyed crew onboard the merchant ship Epic Shikoku spotted the unnamed man bobbing up and down on his makeshift craft just after lunchtime on Monday.
They quickly notified coastguards from Maritime Rescue in Cadiz who quickly dispatched a high-speed rescue boat named Salvamar Gadur to the scene.
Armed with an inflatable mattress and an oar, the man was over 20 miles adrift from the Spanish coast – with no reason given for why he was so far out at sea.
He was subsequently rescued and taken to dry land in Estepona.
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“It looked like a toy at first,” Spain’s Maritime Rescue service said. “But binoculars confirmed it was an adult male, fully clothed, calmly paddling in the middle of open water.
“He didn’t seem to think being 37 kilometres offshore on a pool toy was particularly strange.
“He just said he’d gone out for a paddle, and the current took him further than planned.”
In a social media post, the Maritime Rescue service warned: “The sea is not a raft. Respect it, take care, pay attention and always practice #NauticalSafety.”
Authorities have confirmed that the man was not a migrant.
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