A Peruvian fisherman, Maximo Napa Castro, has been reunited with his family after surviving 95 days lost at sea in the Pacific Ocean. During this ordeal, he survived by eating turtles, birds, and cockroaches. On December 7, he set off from Marcona, a coastal town on the southern Peruvian coast, for what should have been a two-week fishing trip. However, ten days in, a storm blew his boat off course, leaving him adrift with limited supplies. The search continued by his family, but it was not until an Ecuadorian patrol vessel, Don F, found him 1,094 km (680 miles) from the coast, dehydrated and in a critical condition. Maximo survived by catching rainwater in his boat and eating whatever he could find. He also mentioned that he had eaten roaches and birds before turning to sea turtles as food. However, he went without food during the last 15 days of his journey. He said that thinking about his family, including his two-month-old granddaughter, gave him the strength to endure. In a tearful reunion with his brother in Paita, near the Ecuadorian border, Maximo expressed his gratitude to God for giving him a second chance. After being taken to Paita for a medical assessment, he was flown to Lima, the Peruvian capital. There, he was welcomed by his daughter in an emotional reunion surrounded by the media. In his home district of San Andrés in the Ica region, his neighbors and relatives decorated the streets in celebration, and his niece mentioned that they would celebrate his birthday, which passed while he was lost at sea. The family sees this as a rebirth and want to honor the occasion. Similar cases of survival at sea include Russian Mikhail Pichugin, who was rescued after spending more than two months adrift in the Sea of Okhotsk, and Salvadoran fisherman José Salvador Alvarenga, who endured a 14-month ordeal adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj92438d3xmo