Missing Hernando man found near Weeki Wachee State Park

A physically disabled man was basking in the sun and enjoying the serenity of floating downstream along the Weekiwachee River.

He spent the next 18 hours lost in the wilderness, shivering from the cold and wondering whether he would ever find his way back home.

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office announced shortly after noon Tuesday the missing man had been found alive along the banks of the Weekiwachee River.

Prior to his disappearance, Anthony Sureda, 28, of 1315 Henry Ave., was last seen at 6 p.m. Monday wading in the river a short distance east of the Weeki Wachee Christian Camp, deputies said.

Sureda suffers from cerebral palsy.

"It was very sad, but we ended up with a happy ending," said his mother, Susan Sureda.

Her son was floating down the river and drifted off to sleep. Friends with one group assumed he went home with the other and vice versa, she said.

Dave Hramika is a captain with Hernando County Fire Rescue. He also is a water park manager at Weeki Wachee State Park.

He asked his boss, Park Manager Toby Brewer, whether he could take his jet ski and look for Sureda. He had heard the sheriff's office and representatives with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were scouring the river searching for the missing man.

Hramika took his jet ski downstream, met with members of the search party and was making his way back to the park to refuel when he saw a man along the shore in black clothes.

"I yelled, 'Anthony! We've been looking for you,'" he said.

Sureda was sitting near the water about three miles west of the park.

The strong current made Sureda unsure about swimming across, so Hramika parked his watercraft, swam the width of the river, put the man on his back and swam across again, he said.

He asked whether he was injured.

"I'm hungry," Sureda told him.

Moments later, a civilian boat came roaring by. Someone on the boat gave Sureda some crackers and a soda. He boarded the watercraft with Hramika and the two arrived at the park where paramedics were waiting, Hramika said.

Authorities at the scene said Sureda was in good condition. He was taken to Oak Hill Hospital for observation, but he mostly suffered cuts and bruises on his feet and legs, said Hramika.

Sureda's mother said her son also suffered from mild hypothermia because of the cold rain from the night before.

"There was some bad weather," she said. "He was soaking wet and he covered himself with some brush."

She thanked the sheriff's office and fire rescue for their efforts in finding her son.

He was fast asleep soon after he arrived home Tuesday afternoon, she said.

Earlier Tuesday morning, deputies also were on the lookout for another missing adult.

Pamela Joan McCaig, 56, of 8208 Placid St. in Spring Hill, went missing late Saturday night, deputies said.

By early Tuesday afternoon, she was found.

McCaig was located roughly 30 minutes before Sureda.

Sgt. Donna Black, a spokeswoman with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, said McCaig went missing following a "mother-daughter spat."

Details on her disappearance and location McCaig were unavailable.