Fisherman rescued after 95 days adrift eating turtles

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - LIMA — A Peruvian fisherman who survived 95 days lost at sea in the Pacific Ocean by eating turtles, birds and cockroaches has been rescued and reunited with his family.

Maximo Napa Castro, 61, set off for what should have been a two-week fishing trip from the coastal town of Marcona, on the southern Peruvian coast, on 7 December.

Ten days in, a storm blew his boat off course, leaving him adrift with dwindling supplies.

His family launched a search, but Peru's maritime patrols were unable to locate him.

It was not until Wednesday that the Ecuadorian patrol vessel Don F found him 1,094km (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.

In an emotional reunion with his brother in Paita, near the Ecuadorian border, on Friday, he described how he had eaten roaches and birds before resorting to sea turtles. His last 15 days were spent without food.

Thinking of his family, including his two-month-old granddaughter, gave him the strength to endure, Castro said.

"I thought about my mother everyday. I'm thankful to God for giving me a second chance."

His mother, Elena, told local media that, while her relatives remained optimistic during her son's disappearance, she had begun to lose hope.

After his rescue, Castro was taken to Paita for medical assessment before being flown to the Peruvian capital, Lima.

There, at Jorge Chávez International Airport, he was met by his daughter, Inés Napa, in an emotional reunion surrounded by a media scrum. She welcomed him home with a bottle of pisco, Peru's national drink.

In his home district of San Andrés in the Ica region, neighbors and relatives told the Peruvian media agency RPP they decorated the streets in celebration.

His niece, Leyla Torres Napa, said the family planned to celebrate his birthday, which passed while he was lost at sea.

She told the agency: "The day of his birth was unique because all that he could eat [while at sea] was a small cookie, so it is very important for us that we celebrate because, for us, he has been reborn."

Last year, Russian Mikhail Pichugin was rescued after spending more than two months adrift in a small inflatable boat in the Sea of Okhotsk, to the east of Russia.

Similarly, José Salvador Alvarenga, a Salvadoran fisherman, endured an extraordinary 14-month ordeal adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

Setting out from Mexico's coast in late 2012, he was eventually found in the Marshall Islands in early 2014, and also survived on rainwater and turtles. — BBC