Elvis Francois, a 47-year-old Dominican, survived more than three weeks at sea before being rescued in Colombian waters.
A shipwrecked man in the Caribbean survived 24 days on ketchup alone 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 (stock cubes). I mixed everything with water to survive about 24 days,” said Elvis Francois, a 47-year-old Dominican, in a video released by the Colombian Navy.
The survivor had the word “Help” written on the hull of his sailboat, on which he was found 120 nautical miles (about 220 km) northwest of Puerto Bolivar in the northern department of La Guajira.
“On January 15, I saw a plane fly by. I had a mirror and started sending signals” with the sun’s reflection, “when I saw it fly by 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”
While repairing a sailboat off a port on Saint-Martin, an island in the northeastern Antilles, in December, this Dominican resident was “carried out to sea” due to poor weather conditions, according to a statement. the Navy.
“With no navigational skills, he was lost and disoriented at sea, his efforts to maneuver the ship and onboard equipment were useless,” adds the same source.
He tried several times to make a call, but to no avail due to the lack of a network. “There was nothing I could do but sit and wait…24 days away from Earth, with no one to talk to, no idea what to do or where I was. It was difficult, for moments I lost hope, I thought of my family,” he said.
He was turned over to immigration officials to arrange for his return to Dominica.