Man found floating on a raft off Norway

RANDøYSUND, Norway, April 22 (UPI) -- The crew of a Norwegian gas tanker found a California man floating on a raft made of oil drums and planks in the waters between Norway and Denmark.

The man said he had been thrown overboard from a British ship, The Times of London reported.

The ship's crew had initially mistaken the raft for a large piece of debris, but when they approached, the man explained in English what had happened.

"I have been dumped from another boat," he said.

The crew lowered a rescue boat, helped the man aboard and gave him a hot bath, dry clothing and food -- before alerting the Norwegian Sea Rescue Service.

"The man's condition is worse than first assumed," said Per Erik Björklund, an official with Bergesen, the shipping company. "He is suffering from hypothermia, is dehydrated and exhausted.

"Temperatures were at freezing point and the raft would stand only minor waves," Björklund said.

The man has said little, other than that his name is George and that he was born in California in 1959.

"He did not want to say any more before meeting a lawyer," said Jan Håkon Pettersen, the deputy chief executive of Bergesen.