Story of a castaway: he lost almost a month on board a ship and survived on ketchup

United Nations Dominican shipwrecked for almost a month aboard a sailboat in the Caribbean Sea Y survived on a bottle of ketchup before being rescued in Colombian waters.

“I had no food, just a bottle of ketchup, garlic powder and Maggi (bouillon cubes). I mixed everything with water to survive for about 24 days“, he recounted in English Elvis Francois, 47 years old and originally from the Dominican Republicin a video released by the Colombian Navy.

The islander carried the word “help” (help in English) engraved on the hull when it was found 120 nautical miles northwest of Puerto Bolívar in the department of La Guajira (north).

“the January 15th I saw a plane go by. I had a mirror and I began to send him some signals“with the reflection of the sun, “when I saw it pass twice, I realized that they had seen me,” Francois explained.

The Navy received the information from the aircraft and rescued the man with the help of a merchant ship.

The videos show a doctor listening to the survivor, while he ensures that he feels in good health.

Why was the ship adrift in the Dominican Republic?

In December of last year, François They worked on the repair of a sailboats off a port on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, in the Netherlands Antilles.

in between conditions “adverse” weather“man” was washed up in the open sea“, according to a bulletin of the Navy.

“Without having any kind of knowledge in navigation, he was lost and disoriented at seatheir efforts to maneuver the vessel and the equipment on board were unsuccessful,” the text added.

Francois tried to make calls with his cell phonebut ran out of signal.

“There was nothing else I could do sit and wait, 24 days without land, with no one to talk to, without knowing what to do, or where he was. It was hard, at times I lost hope, I waited on my family,” Francois confessed.

The Dominican was handed over to the immigration authorities to coordinate the return to his country.

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