A fisherman who fell into the sea on Christmas Day was found a day later – clinging to a marker buoy in the South Atlantic Ocean.

The astonishing rescue of 43-year-old Deivid Soares was captured on video as he perched on the buoy while it rocked in stormy seas.

In the footage, Soares can be seen clinging to the top of the float as the amazed crew of a boat approaches him off the coast of Atafona.

The drama started when the fisherman fell overboard from his vessel off the coast of Sao Joao da Barra in Brazil on 25th December.

Soares – known locally by his nickname Leandro – said he had been working alone when he fell off the boat and could not get back on board.

He said: “The first ten minutes were the most difficult, I desperately wanted to get back to the vessel, but there was just no way to swim against the current.”

When family and friends realised he was missing, they raised the alert with rescuers and his dad, Joao Batista Soares, said he feared the worse.

But locals also joined in the search, and there was horror when they discovered his vessel at sea with no one on board.

After drifting for eight kilometres, Leandro says he removed his wet clothes so that he could move more quickly.

He had spotted the buoys in the distance and said he was determined to reach them, and managed by a combination of drifting and swimming that took around four hours.

Once there, he used the last of his strength to climb on top of the device in the hope of rescue.

He added: “There were several times I thought I was going to die because of the cold before help could arrive.”

In the end, he was safely rescued and after a day’s recovery, he was back at work.

He added: “An experience like that does not leave you the same, you look at life with different eyes and I would say I am now a different and a better man.”