How to survive for 10 hours in the water

Mexican shark fisherman Jesus Vidana describing his crew's remarkable story of spending 270 days adrift

Water temperature

There were several lucky factors in this case which helped the survivor, including the warm sea.
"The water temperature would have been about 28-29C which is a little bit warmer than a swimming pool," says Professor Mike Tipton, an expert on surviving extreme environments.
A person can survive for around one hour in 5C water, two hours in 10C and six hours in 15C - but if the temperature is in the high 20s then it is possible to survive for around 25 hours, he says.
Humans can go into cold water shock if the temperature is too low, which means they lose the ability to control their breathing and can potentially inhale water or drown.
And as their body temperature falls, someone can become tired, confused or disorientated.
The average temperature of British and Irish waters is between 12C and 15C - low enough to cause cold water shock.
Try to float
According to this guide on Personal Survival Techniques produced for the Irish sea fisheries board, the best way to slow down the rate at which your body cools is to avoid swimming and instead try to float in the water with your knees raised up to your chest.
The "flat, calm conditions" meant the woman in this case - named by newspapers as Kay Longstaff - was able to float, swim and "stay pretty much where she fell in", says Prof Tipton.
"She wasn't being battered by waves for the whole of the time. She would have most inevitably had drowned if that had been the case."
Clothing and footwear improve a person's buoyancy during their first moments in
the water because they trap air, according to the RNLI. Floating calmly rather than moving around a lot will help the air stay trapped.
Anything you can do to help you float will improve your chances.
This maritime training school on Australia's Sunshine Coast advises anyone who finds themselves stuck in the water to look for something that is floating and hold on to it.
If they do not have a life jacket, they should try to make buoyancy out of clothing - a move familiar to many in the UK from school swimming lessons.
Get found
With the time it's possible to survive in the water limited, it's important to get rescued as soon as possible.
In this case, people on board appear to have noticed the woman was missing and used the ship's CCTV to pinpoint the time of her fall and hence her probable location.
But, as Prof Tipton says, it's still very hard to find someone floating alone at sea - particularly at night. "It's just a really difficult thing to find what essentially is a head in the water."

Be female

Women's high proportion of body fat - typically 10% more than men - can work in their favour.
"They have more subcutaneous fat and that means they are more buoyant because the body's buoyancy comes primarily from the air and fat in the body," Prof Tipton told BBC 5 Live.
The extra fat also helps keep the body warm, which helps when the human body gets tired in the water.
"You can imagine if you have to swim for 10 hours to keep your airway clear of the water, there's a pretty good chance you'd get exhausted," he said. 

Psychology of survival

In order to survive this kind of ordeal, you also need to be mentally resilient.
According to Survival Psychology by Dr John Leach, during disaster situations, most people will be paralysed into doing nothing to help themselves.
Others will panic but some will immediately take active measures to survive.
"I think there is a big psychological aspect," said Professor Tipton. "At the time, hours six, seven, eight and nine it must be a fairly desperate situation to be in.
"You can imagine a scenario where perhaps a search and rescue boat had come by and not seen her, what that would do to your psychology and survival but thankfully in this case she was found."