Three Mexican fishermen spend 9 months at sea

August 16, 2006

Three Mexican fishermen from the Mexican State of Nayarit have been found by a Taiwanese tuna trawler near the Marshall Islands after spending 9 months and 9 days at sea on a small open top fishing boat eating what ever fish and birds they could catch and drinking only rain water.

Experiencing problems with their two small outboard engines soon after departure from home port of San Blas on the Mexican Pacific coast on October 9 last year, they drifted more than 5,000 miles (8000 km) west trying to call the attention of passing ships before being picked up by the Taiwanese trawler where they are currently being held.

In an interview with Mexican television station Televisa one of the men commented: "We ate raw sea gulls, ducks and fish. We ate everything raw [...] any fish that came near the boat we grabbed it and gulped it down" one time going more than 15 days without food, but constant rain had kept them from thirsting. To keep up their spirit the three fishermen took turns reading the Bible.

The three men, Salvador Ordonez, Jesus Vidana and Lucio Rendon, had been presumed dead when their families were notified of their miraculous rescue.