After what he claimed was a 24-day experience during which he only had a bottle of ketchup and some spice to eat, a sailor was rescued by the Colombian navy.
Dominican native Elvis Francois, 47, said in a video made public by the navy that he was stranded on the Caribbean Sea for 24 days without seeing land.
“I have no food. It’s just a bottle of ketchup that was on the boat. Garlic powder, and Maggi,” he said, referring to a seasoning. “So, I mixed it up with some water.”
According to a statement released by the navy on Wednesday, Francois was saved around 120 nautical miles to the northwest of the department of La Guajira, which is located at the northeastern edge of the nation.
The navy said that he had scribbled “help” on the boat’s hull, which had been seen by an aircraft. A merchant ship picked up Francois.
According to the navy, Francois was sent to Cartagena for medical treatment, and authorities will assist him in returning home.
Francois says he is doing fine in a video distributed by the Associated Press and Reuters and made public by the Navy. It was reported that he gathered rainfall using a cloth
“Twenty-four days, no land. Nobody to talk to. Don’t know what to do. Don’t know where you are. It was rough,” he said in the video. “At a certain time, I lose hope. I think about my family.”
Francois claimed that while working on his yacht near the Netherlands Antilles island of St. Martin, he was carried out to sea by a current.
Francois claimed in the video that he attempted to return to the port but was unable to do so and that he tried to phone friends but lost service. He said, “There was nothing more I could do but sit here and wait.”