Fishermen Safe After 5 Months, 3,600 Miles Adrift in the Pacific
Five Costa Rican fishermen set foot on land Friday after five months adrift in a 30-foot boat, having survived on rainwater, fish, turtles and sharks.
“We were never starving,” said Gerardo Obregon Obando, captain of the fishing boat Cairo III, “and we never gave up hope because we have a great faith in God.”
A Japanese tuna boat spotted the vessel 700 miles southeast of here Wednesday and brought the crew to Oahu. The men told the Coast Guard that their boat ran out of gas off the Central American coast and had been adrift since, Coast Guard spokesman Jeff Crawley said.
The Cairo III set out on Jan. 19 from Puntarenas, Costa Rica, for an eight-day fishing trip, but was driven from land by a storm and ran out of gas before it could reach port. It drifted 3,600 miles across the Pacific Ocean.
The men collected rainwater and caught enough food to stay healthy, Crawley said.
“We lived on sharks, fish--even little fish--and whatever else got near the boat,” Obando said.
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