A 47-year-old man was engaged on his boat in St. Maarten in December when the climate all of a sudden churned and he drifted out to sea. He quickly grew to become misplaced and now, weeks later has been discovered off the coast of Colombia — with solely ketchup and seasonings serving to to maintain him nourished.
The Colombian Navy introduced Wednesday that they rescued the person, recognized as Elvis Francois of Dominica, about 120 nautical miles away from Puerto Bolívar within the Caribbean Sea. They responded to the stranded man after studying that there was an adrift sailboat with the phrase “HELP” spelled out on the boat’s hull.
The navy stated that Francois knowledgeable them he had been close to Saint Maarten within the Antilles islands making repairs on his boat when climate situations worsened and he was all of a sudden dragged out to sea. Authorities stated that Francois’ navigation expertise weren’t eager, making him misplaced and disoriented.
“I tried to [go] back to port, but I lost track because it took me a while to mount the sail and fix the sail,” Francois stated in a video launched by the Navy. “…I call my friends, my coworkers. They tried to contact me, but they lost service. There was nothing else I could do than sit down and wait.”
That’s when he determined to jot down out a name for assistance on the again of the boat.
“I had no food, just a bottle of ketchup that was on the boat, garlic powder and Maggi [soup],” he stated. “So, I mixed it up with some water so I had this to survive for 24 days in the sea.”
Upon rescue, Francois was taken to the Port of Cartagena to obtain medical care and start procedures to return to Dominica, the navy stated. Colombian Army Commander Captain Carlos Urano Montes stated that he “was found to be in good health.”
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