By
The Associated Press
Dominican Elvis Francois claims he survived 24 days adrift at sea eating a bottle of ketchup he found on the sailboat he was on, garlic powder and a few bouillon cubes.
After being rescued by the Colombian Navy, Francois, 47, recounted that his journey began in December when he worked on the repair of the sailboat on the island of San Martín in the Netherlands Antilles, where he lives.
He was fixing the engine and the sail on the pier when the sailboat was swept away by the force of the sea.
He tried to return to port but lost control because it took him a while to rig the sail and fix it.
“I called my friends, they tried to contact me, but I lost the signal.
There was nothing else to do but sit and wait, but I had no food
," Francois recalled in a video released by the Navy.
Then he found a bottle of ketchup and the bouillon cubes he ate.
Elvis Francois is attended to by members of the Colombian Navy in Cartagena, Monday, January 16, 2023. AP
Francois was found in good health although he told the Navy that he lost weight and to survive collected a little rainwater in cloth that was within his reach, the commander of the group told The Associated Press on Thursday. Caribbean Coast Guard, Captain Carlos Urbano Montes.
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While adrift he had to constantly draw water from the sailboat to prevent it from sinking and tried to light a fire to send a signal for help, but was unsuccessful.
"I lost hope"
After days without seeing land, without knowing what to do or where he was, he saw a plane go by and signaled with a mirror.
He knew that he was detected when the plane came by again.
"At some point I lost hope and thought about my family, but I thank the coast guard, if it weren't for them I wouldn't be telling the story," he said after being rescued.
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The sailboat he was on was located from the air by a Panamanian plane, according to the Coast Guard commander, when it was 120 nautical miles northwest of La Guajira, in the extreme north of Colombia, and then helped by sea with the help of a merchant ship that diverted its route at the notice of the Colombian Navy.
"His efforts to maneuver the vessel and the equipment on board were unsuccessful, leading him, in a desperate action, to mark the word 'help' along the hull," the Navy said in a statement.
After its rescue, the sailboat was abandoned at sea due to "ocean-atmospheric conditions," explained the Coast Guard commander.
Francois was transferred to the Port of Cartagena, in the Caribbean, where she received medical attention.
The Navy made Francois available to the immigration authority so that he can be returned to his country of origin.