A Russian man was rescued after more than two months adrift on a small inflatable boat in the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia’s far east.
Officials say the man, whom Russian media reported as 46-year-old Mikhail Pichugin, was found by the crew of a fishing boat almost 1,000 km from where he set sail in early August. The bodies of his brother and 15-year-old nephew were reportedly found on the boat.
Mr Pichugin’s wife said the three of them went out to sea to watch whales and stock up on food for two weeks.
She told Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti that his weight may have had an impact on his survival – he weighed 100 kg when he left, but reports say he weighed only half that when he was rescued 67 days later.
“We don’t know anything yet. All we know is that he’s alive… It’s a miracle!” – she told the Russian agency.
She also said that their daughter was supposed to go on this ill-fated trip, but she decided that she wanted to return home.
According to RIA, a helicopter search found no trace of the three after their disappearance was reported.
According to a Russian news agency, the boat was discovered on Monday as it passed a fishing boat in the Sea of u200bu200bOkhotsk, off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, located in Russia’s far east.
A video released by the prosecutor’s office shows a bearded man wearing a life jacket shouting to the fishermen: “I have no strength left” as he is taken to safety.
He was named by RIA as 46-year-old Mikhail Pichugin. The bodies of his brother Sergei (49) and nephew Ilya were still on the boat.
As for how it managed to survive for so long in the Sea of Okhotsk – the coldest in East Asia – a representative of the Far Eastern branch of the Union of Russian Seamen suggested that fish supplies may have played a role.
Nikolai Sukhanov told RIA Novosti that in such a situation you can survive by fishing and spending the supplies left on the boat.
Mr Pichugin is currently recovering in hospital and doctors describe his condition as “more or less stable”.
Prosecutors said they were opening an investigation, which included an inspection of the small boat and investigators trying to determine the circumstances of the incident.
This is not the first case of survivors being found after days of drifting – an expert told RIA Novosti that in 1960, four Soviet soldiers survived 49 days adrift on a small boat in the Pacific before being picked up by an American aircraft carrier.