A 17-year-old was rescued after being lost in rough seas for 12 hours clinging to an overturned kayak.

Screenshots from a video of the US Coast Guard Sector Honolulu

A teenager was recently rescued off the coast of Honolulu after a 12-hour ordeal adrift in choppy waters filled with zigzag currents.

In the long darkness of the night near the equator, Kahiau Kawai bobbed up and down, clinging to his kayak, seeing the lights of search parties searching in vain for him far off the coast.

The response was organized around 6:30 p.m. when Kawai’s high school kayaking team discovered he had not returned to Diamond Head during a practice kayaking competition that evening.

911 organized coast rescuers, the U.S. Coast Guard and other forces to try to find the young man. Kawai’s ski kayak capsized and he lost his paddle in the struggle. Having nothing to guide the ship through the current that he knew was carrying him out to sea, he tried to remain calm.

One of those rescuers, Noland Keaulana, an experienced Hawaiian boatman and Honolulu Department of Ocean Safety lifeguard, was alerted to 17-year-old Kawai’s plight by his wife, who called Keaulana while he was repairing his truck and said their friends’ son was missing in the ocean.

Speaking to CNN, Keaulana said he treats every islander as his family.

“I treat everyone as if they are part of my family. I spent almost the whole night looking for my son,” he said. “Being able to find him was very emotional.”

Kawai said he tried to maintain his faith in God by swimming smoothly and steadily toward shore, but admitted he was afraid of the dark, swirling water below. It was especially alarming to see the searchlights of a helicopter and ships in the distance.

“I saw them get to a certain point a few times, but they didn’t go as far as I did, and that scared me a little,” Kahiau said.

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Around 4 a.m. Thursday, after more than eight hours of searching, the crew of a U.S. Coast Guard aircraft spotted a kayak and a teenager clinging to it. They marked his location with a flare, where Keolana came to pick him up on his day off.

The lifeguard recalled that the first thing Kawai said upon boarding the boat was that he was afraid his family was worried about him. Luckily, Keaulana had his family’s number, and when he called them to share the good news, he said the celebration over the phone sounded like a pack of monkeys and hyenas.

At 5:25 a.m., Keaulana rushed Kawai to the Ala Wai Harbor emergency room, where he was treated for injuries and hypothermia. He was in serious but stable condition.

“To ensure this does not happen again, we have initiated a thorough investigation into the incident and will take responsibility to take all necessary actions,” Kamehameha Schools, whose kayaking team Kawai is a member of, told CNN in a statement. “We can and will do better.”

WATCH the moments leading to salvation below…

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