As in the film “Cast Away” masterfully played by Tom Hanks a shipwrecked citizen of Dominica survived 24 days adrift in the Caribbean on a sailboat eating Maggi nuts, ketchup and garlic powder. After more than weeks he was rescued by the Colombian Navy.
Elvis François, 47, had written the word “help” in English on the hull of the boat. The vessel was spotted from above 120 nautical miles northwest of the Guajira peninsula and the man was taken to the port city of Cartagena by a passing container ship, the Colombian navy said in a statement. François told Colombian authorities his ordeal began in December when currents swept his sailboat overboard as he was carrying out repairs off the island of St Martin in the Netherlands Antilles, where he lives. “I called my friends, they tried to reach me, but I lost signal. There was nothing to do but sit and wait,” he said in a video released by the Navy, and added that all the time he was adrift he had to remove the water from the hull to keep from sinking. . To save him the reports made with a mirror to an airplane. Rescuers said they found the survivor in good health. Of course he will have to tell his bad experience to friends and grandchildren for life.