Leonardo DiCaprio rescues drowning man who had fallen overboard cruise ship and treaded water for 11 hours
Leonardo DiCaprio, whose character tragically drowned in as the Titanic sank in James Cameron's blockbuster movie, is now being hailed as a hero for his role in rescuing a man from drowning last month. The star was on a Caribbean vacation when the incident happened.
The 45-year-old Hollywood veteran was aboard a boat off the island of St. Barts when he successfully located the man. The drowning man had already spent 11 hours treading water when DiCaprio and others pulled him to safety, a source confirmed to Daily Mail.
DiCaprio was on the boat on December 30 when he heard that the 24-year-old Frenchman had fallen from a cruise ship.
In an effort to aid in the search, the actor immediately ordered the vessel to divert from its course and began an hours-long search for the man in rough water.
The crew finally spotted the man waving his hands and proceeded to pull him from the water just before nightfall when a giant rainstorm was predicted to move into the area.
Interestingly, DiCaprio's boat was the only one looking for the missing individual who was stranded in the middle of the ocean facing certain death.
Furthermore, it was reported that the boat's captain had described the rescue operation as a "one in a billion shot".
The 'Inception' star spent the period between Christmas and New Year soaking up the sun in St. Barts and was accompanied there by his 22-year-old girlfriend Camila Morrone.
DiCaprio rose to global fame after his role as the tragic Jack Dawson opposite Kate Winslet's Rose in 1997's 'Titanic'.
The doomed transatlantic liner hit an iceberg before Jack sacrificed his own life in a bid to save Rose, refusing to get on board a piece of raft she was in to escape the freezing waters.
DiCaprio's 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' co-star Brad Pitt joked about the classic scene at Sunday's Golden Globes in LA.
Pitt accepted the award for best supporting actor for the Quentin Tarantino film, and later went on to thank DiCaprio, calling him an "all-star" and a "gent."
"I wouldn’t be here without you, man," he said, before joking how he "would’ve shared the raft" with DiCaprio.