>>131417 cont... Mike Cicchino: There was a lot of times we didn't think we would make it at all. I just remember calling my Mom, my brother, my daughter, tell them that I love them, tell my Mom I don't think I am going to make it out of here, take care of my daughter. When we were hiding in the ocean I thought we were going to drown because we were taking in so much smoke, you feel yourself getting tired . It was weird your scared but then your getting tired then your slowly losing consciousness with every breath and I realised at points if we stayed in the water, not only are we getting hit with fire but we are going to die of smoke inhalation just by breathing it in and we are going to drown. And I know that some of the people that were with me drowned. I saw babies that were out there that I never saw again.
Elizabeth Vargas: You saw babies out in the ocean with you?
Mike Cicchino: People were holding babies and when I went back to...when I was helping the Coast Guard try to gather people and get head counts to try to get people out of the fire as much as I could. When I was doing the head count of the kids the babies were not there anymore.
Elizabeth Vargas: That is so distressing. How did the Coast Guard finally find you?
Mike Cicchino: That was...Thank God my Mom called... Last thing I said to my Mom when we got to Front Street, "I'm jumping in the water and I don't know if I am going to make it. We are in front of Waikiki Brewery. She had the smarts to call the Coast Guard and they had no idea there was a fire when she called. Whenever my phone would sometimes get a signal or text in one of the text my Mom said the Coast Guard is looking for you. I kept my eyes out on the water, I don't see any moving boats and then I finally saw one way later in the night, closer to midnight, one o'clock now. Keep in mind this started at 3:30 in the afternoon. I saw those red and blue lights out on the water and I knew it was the Coast Guard. I flashed my phone flashlight at the Coast Guard, trying to yell for everyone else to do the same. At the same time I am doing this I got a phone call that said U.S. Coast Guard. My Mom gave my number to them and they basically called me and that was a point of contact for the Coast Guard to direct them where to go into shore to save us because we couldn't take anymore smoke... [Elizabeth Vargas, NewsNation cuts the interview here]
