Abused Mom Found Alive in Middle of Ocean 8 hours After Throwing Herself In

A suicidal mother who threw herself into the ocean was found the following day — alive.

Incredible video shows the moment fishermen pulled Angélica Gaitán from the water three miles off the coast of Colombia, where she had somehow survived for more than eight hours.

Crew members aboard the tiny fishing vessel filmed the dramatic rescue after they spotted what they thought was a floating log, only to discover to their shock it was not only a person, but one still breathing.

A second video shows the rescuers making landfall, leading the utterly exhausted and sodden victim up the beach, giving her a chair and water to drink.

Piecing together what happened in the hospital afterwards, it soon emerged that Angélica's amazing story of survival was not just one of hours, but decades.

Speaking to interviewers, she praised God for giving her the strength to survive not only years of abuse she says she experienced at the hands of her husband, but her own suicide attempt.

"God didn't want me to drown," she tearfully said. "All my blessings came true, he took me in his arms."

Spilling her tragic story of how she ended up in the middle of the sea, she claimed she had suffered a childhood of abuse under her mother, only to escape straight into an abusive marriage.

She said that after years of being beaten by her husband, she finally escaped to a women's shelter — but the abuse didn't end there.

Through tears, she detailed how the institution refused to let family members see her, how her grandmother sent her clothes and other items but they never reached her, how she was isolated and not allowed to interact with other residents.

"They treated me terrible... they would tell me that my husband was waiting outside for me and that I had to stay inside," she said.

Until this week, she said, when they suddenly told her she was being kicked out, and that the police had been called to remove her.

It was at that point she decided to end her life, she recounted. She said she met a woman in the street and asked her how to get to the ocean. The woman gave her some money for a bus ticket, and she made her way to the coast.

In the darkness, she told herself "It's in God's hands now" — and threw herself in.

"God gave me the strength to survive," she said. "He made me strong in my mind, my heart, my soul.... I am indebted to my Father."