A Peruvian fisherman who went missing in the Pacific Ocean was rescued after 95 days and reunited with his family. Peru’s maritime patrol found the elderly fisherman 1094 kilometers offshore, severely dehydrated.
Describing how he managed to survive by eating birds and sea turtles while lost, the elderly fisherman said, “I didn’t want to die. I am grateful to God for giving me a second chance.” 61-year-old Maximo Napa Castro set out to sea to fish on December 7 from the coastal town of Marcona in southern Peru.
Preparing enough food for a two-week fishing trip, the fisherman disappeared in the Pacific Ocean ten days later.
Stormy weather threw off his boat’s course, and he began to drift. When his family couldn’t contact him for a long time, search operations were initiated.
Peru’s maritime patrol found the elderly fisherman 95 days later 1094 kilometers offshore, severely dehydrated and in critical condition.
Napa, speaking to Reuters, said, “I didn’t want to die. I ate cockroaches, birds, and the last thing I ate was turtles.” The elderly man explained that although he ran out of food, he stayed strong thinking of his family, including his two-month-old grandchild while trying to survive with rainwater collected on the boat.
Spending the last 15 days at sea without eating anything, Napa said, “I was thinking of my mother every day. I am grateful to God for giving me a second chance.” His mother Elena Castro, speaking to journalists, said, “I prayed to the Lord to bring him back to me, alive or dead, just to see him.”
The fisherman, taken to a hospital in Lima, the capital of Peru, for examination, expresses his desire to return to the sea in the future and continue fishing.