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| A Colombian mariner (right) has been rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard
after surviving a two-month ordeal in the Pacific by eating fish and
seagulls |
A Colombian
mariner has been rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard after surviving a
two-month ordeal in the Pacific by eating fish and seagulls.
He
was the only survivor from the crew, with the man telling the Coast
Guard that his three companions on the disabled 23-foot skiff died at
sea.
Their bodies were not aboard the vessel that was adrift in a lightly traveled expanse of the ocean.
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| The 29-year-old survivor, who was not identified, was spotted and
rescued by the Panamanian-flagged Nikkei Verde, a merchant ship, more
than 2,000 miles southeast of Hawaii |
Questions
remains about the crew of the vessel with the surviving fisherman unable
to provide any information on the identity of the dead men.
The
four sailors had left Colombia more than two months ago, the Coast
Guard said. At some point, their skiff's engine failed and they were
left adrift.
The
29-year-old survivor, who was not identified, was spotted and rescued by
the Panamanian-flagged Nikkei Verde, a merchant ship, more than 2,000
miles southeast of Hawaii.
He was transferred to a Coast Guard boat and arrived in Honolulu in good condition on Wednesday.
Coast Guard
video showed the survivor dressed in a black t-shirt, jeans, a baseball
cap and a life vest as he gingerly climbed down a ladder from the
Nikkei Verde onto the Coast Guard's vessel.
In
the video, the survivor spoke through a Coast Guard interpreter and
thanked his rescuers and God. He said he would have loved it if his
friends from the skiff could have been there with him.
'This
mariner had great fortitude and is very fortunate the crew of the
Nikkei Verde happened upon him as the area he was in is not heavily
trafficked,' said Coast Guard Lt. Commander John MacKinnon.
The Coast Guard said it is not investigating.
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