Long Island swimmer swept out to sea spent FIVE HOURS treading water: Dan Ho created makeshift flag from broken fishing rod and his shirt to attract rescuers

A 63-year-old man who was swept out to sea managed to tread water for more than five hours before two fishermen came across him by chance. 

Swimmer Dan Ho even created a makeshift flag from a broken fishing rod and his shirt to attract the attention of passing boats when he got swept out on a strong current near Long Island early on Monday morning. 

His troubles began when he took a dip in the water at Cedar Beach, Babylon, at about 5am.

Strong waves soon swept the Copiague man away, with the current carrying him about two-and-a-half miles from the coast, according to Suffolk County Police Department. 

But through a stroke of ingenuity, Ho seized a nearby fishing rod he found floating in the water, and removed his shirt to fashion a flag. 

Swimmer Dan Ho, 63, was rescued by two hero fishermen after they stumbled across a makeshift flag he fashioned from a broken fishing rod and his own shirt - while he was treading water for more than five hours off the coast of Long Island on Monday morning 

Fishermen Jim Hohorst (right) and Michael Ross (left) stumbled across Ho at about 10.30am Monday and saved his life by pulling him aboard their 2007 Albin Tropical Soul vessel while he was struggling with severe hypothermia 

Ho was treading water from 5am until 10.30am Monday morning after strong currents carried him 2.5 miles away from the coast of Cedar Beach in Babylon, Long Island, NY (pictured)

Five-and-a-half hours later - 10.30am - he was finally spotted by two men on a motorboat.

Retired FDNY marine engineer Jim Hohorst and his friend Michael Ross were fishing for striped bass aboard their 2007 Albin Tropical Soul when they spotted Ho's flag. 

They edged closer and realized it was a man, and pulled him aboard their boat before alerting emergency responders via VHF radio. 

Ross, of Syosset, said there were no other boats around at the time, and when they found Ho his body had turned gray due to hypothermia. 

'He was just treading water, praying that some boat would come by,' Ross told ABC 7. 

''And I can tell you there were no boats in the ocean - not for miles.'

Describing Ho's state, Ross said: 'He was blue - lips blue, body gray, he was totally hypothermic. 

'We wrapped him in towels - I had my arm around him sitting in the back just to keep him from falling over and Jim was on the radio with the coastguard.'

Ross revealed Ho thought he was going to die.  

'He just kept saying: "I thought I was a goner, I thought I was a goner"', he said. 

Hohorst, of West Islip, added: 'I just hope everything's good, and he's okay'.  

Suffolk County Police Department's marine rescuers - Bernadette Benjamin and Robert Jenkins - rushed to meet their civilian boat.

The officers transferred Ho onto their ship, the Marine Juliet, and immediately treated him for hypothermia. 

Ho was shivering, gray and 'totally hypothermic' by the time he was found by the fishermen

Ho had been carried 2.5 miles from the shoreline by strong currents by the time he was found by the fishermen 

'We wrapped him in towels - I had my arm around him sitting in the back just to keep him from falling over and Jim was on the radio with the coastguard,' Ross said, describing the rescue 

They said he was conscious and alert but unable to stand due to heat exhaustion. 

A photograph released by the department shows Ho wrapped in foil as he was helped aboard their vessel.  

Eventually, Ho was brought on to dry land at the US Coast Guard Station on Fire Island, where he received further treatment from medics. 

He was then taken by ambulance to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip.