Leonardo DiCaprio saves man adrift at sea for 11 hours

This might be the time for Leonardo DiCaprio to redeem himself in the eyes of Titanic fans.

Since the release of the film in 1997, the 45-year-old actor has been the butt of many jokes and the subject of numerous discussions regarding Jack's decision to drown instead of sharing the floating wooden panel with his character's love interest Rose (played by Kate Winslet).

However, his latest act of heroism might just be enough to finally put a pin in it.

UK tabloid The Sun reported that Leonardo saved a 24-year-old French man after the latter fell overboard because he was drunk.

On Dec 30, the award-winning actor was vacationing on a boat in the Caribbean with his model girlfriend Camila Morrone, 22, and his friends when he heard the mayday call, and decided to join the emergency search efforts. Leonardo diverted his boat to search the rough seas before finding him at dusk.

The man, identified as Victor, fell from a yacht in the Caribbean and survived by "treading water for 11 hours". He was severely dehydrated and given "food, drink and clothes before being passed to coast guards".

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Upon being rescued, Victor was reportedly sobbing and said: "I should have died."

According to The Sun, Victor's chances of survival were "one in a billion" and Leonardo's vessel was the only responder. He was also supposedly minutes from drowning when he was rescued.

Perhaps after this, Leonardo's bestie actor Brad Pitt can finally give the poor actor a break about Titanic?

bryanlim@asiaone.com