After nearly 100 days adrift, a 61-year-old Peruvian fisherman was rescued from the Pacific Ocean, having survived on rainwater and scavenged food.
On Dec. 7, Maximo Napa Castro set off on what was supposed to be a two-week solo fishing trip from Marcona, a town on the southern coast of Peru. About 10 days in, strong winds blew his vessel off course, leaving him alone with limited supplies.
After he failed to return, Castro’s family alerted the Peruvian Coast Guard that he was missing, but authorities were unable to locate him. On Wednesday, an Ecuadorian patrol boat finally found Castro in critical condition about 1,094 kilometres from the shore, according to the BBC.
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Castro was reunited with his brother on Friday in Paita in northwestern Peru, a town about 400 kilometres from the Ecuadorian border.
He said he survived by drinking rainwater and consuming whatever he could catch from the ocean.
Following his safe return, Castro told reporters he did not want to die and that thoughts of his family, including his mother, gave him strength.
“It was 95 days. I ate roaches, birds, the last thing I ate was turtles,” he said. “I have a two-month-old granddaughter. I held onto her.”
After addressing the press, Castro received medical treatment in Paita before being sent to Lima, Peru’s capital, where he was reunited with his daughter at Jorge Chávez International Airport, who arrived with a bottle of pisco, Peru’s national drink.
His niece, Leyla Torres Napa, said that the family was looking forward to celebrating Castro’s birthday, which passed while he was at sea.
“The day of his birth was unique because all that he could eat [while at sea] was a small cookie, so it is very important for us that we celebrate because, for us, he has been reborn,” she told the news outlet.
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