A fisherman in Peru has survived more than 95 days at sea after a storm blew him off course. He did everything in his power to survive including eating roaches as well as sea turtles and birds.
61-year-old Máximo Napa Castro says he was on a fishing trip in December when a storm blew his boat off course. He had only brought enough food for two weeks. Adrift in the middle of the Pacific, he had to try to survive until he could find help. Finally after 95 days, an Ecuadorian fishing patrol found ther fisherman.
He was severely dehydrated and was unlikely to last much longer.
"I did not want to die," Castro said via Daily Mail. "I ate roaches, birds, the last thing I ate was turtles." He used the memories and thoughts of his family to keep him alive. Castro managed to trap rainwater on his boat. But he ran out of food, starving for more than two week.s
"I had a granddaughter who is a few months old, I held on to her. Every day I thought of my mother," he said. "I'm thankful to God for giving me a second chance."
Fisherman Survives
Meanwhile, his family held out hope that he was alive. But as the months passed by, his mother, Elena, said she began to lose faith that the fisherman would be found.
"I told the Lord, whether he's alive or dead, just bring him back to me, even if it's just to see him," she told TV Peru. "But my daughters never lost faith. They kept telling me: Mom, he'll come back, he'll come back."
The family is very thankful to the people who found the fisherman and saved his life.
"Thank you, Ecuadorian brothers, for rescuing my dad Gatón, God bless you," Napa's daughter Inés Napa Torres wrote in a post to Facebook. "Every day is anguish for the whole family and I understand my grandmother's pain because as a mother I understand her. We never thought we would go through this situation, I wouldn't wish it on anyone, we will not lose hope, Dad, of finding you."
Fortunately, despite being dehydrated and starving, the fisherman is okay.
"Mr Napa arrived in good physical condition. He could walk, wash himself. Shocked, but in good physical condition," said a Peruvian navy port captain, Jorge González.
