A shipwrecked man in the Caribbean Sea survived 24 days on tomato sauce before being rescued in Colombian waters, the country’s naval authority said.
“I had nothing to eat, just a bottle of ketchup, garlic powder and Maggi (bouillon cubes). I mixed everything with water to survive for about 24 days,” Elvis Francois, a 47-year-old Dominican, said in a video. launched by the Colombian Navy.
The survivor had written the word “socorro” on the hull of his sailboat where he was found 120 nautical miles (about 220 kilometers) northwest of Puerto Bolívar, in the northern department of La Guajira.
“On January 15 I saw a plane go by. I had a mirror and I began to send signals “with the reflection of the sun”, when I saw it pass twice I understood that “they had seen me”, he explains. .
The Colombian Navy quickly came to rescue him with the support of a merchant ship.
“Lost and Disoriented at Sea”
In December, while this Dominica resident was repairing a sailboat off a port in Saint-Martin, an island in the northeast of the Antilles, he was “taken out to sea” due to bad weather conditions, according to a Navy statement.
“Without any knowledge of navigation, he was lost and disoriented at sea, his efforts to maneuver the ship and the equipment on board were futile,” the same source added.
Several times he tried to make calls, but in vain, due to lack of network. “I couldn’t do anything but sit and wait… 24 days away from earth, no one to talk to, no idea what to do, or where I was. It was hard, at times I lost hope, I thought of my family “, said.
He was handed over to the immigration services to organize his return to Dominica.
Source: BFM TV
