A Russian man was rescued after more than two months drifting on a small inflatable boat in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia’s far east.
Officials said a man named by Russian media as Mikhail Pichugin, 46, was found by a fishing boat nearly 1,000km (620 miles) from where he set off in early August. His son and his 15-year-old nephew were said to have been found on the boat.
Mr. Pichugin’s wife said the trio went out to sea to watch whales and get food for two weeks.
She told Russia’s state news agency Ria Novosti that his weight may have been a factor in his survival – he weighed 100kg (15lb 10lb) when he set out on the trip, and reports said that number was half that when he was rescued 67 days later.
“We don’t know anything yet. We just know that he’s alive… It’s some kind of miracle!” she told the Russian agency.
She also said their daughter was supposed to join the ill-fated trip but she decided she wanted to return home.
According to Ria, a helicopter search found no trace of the trio after they were reported missing.
The boat was spotted on Monday as it passed by a fishing boat in the Sea of Okhotsk, off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, located in Russia’s far east, Russian news agencies reported.
In a video posted by the prosecutor’s office, a bearded man wearing a life jacket shouts at the fishermen: “I have no strength anymore” as he is carried to safety.
Ria said his name was Mikhail Pichugin, 46 years old. The bodies of his brother Sergei, 49, and nephew Ilya remained on the boat.
As for how he was able to survive for so long in the Sea of Okhotsk – the coldest place in East Asia – a representative from the far eastern branch of the Russian seamen’s union suggested that fish supplies may have played a role. some role.
Nikolai Sukhanov, told Ria Novosti that in such a situation, you can survive by fishing while making a living on whatever is left on the boat.
Mr Pichugin is currently recovering in hospital, where he is described by doctors as being in a “more or less stable” condition.
Prosecutors said they are conducting a criminal investigation, in which the small boat is being examined and investigators are trying to determine the circumstances leading up to the incident.
This is not the first time drifters have been found after days adrift – an expert told Ria Novosti that four Soviet soldiers survived 49 days adrift on a small boat in the Pacific Ocean in 1960, before being picked up by a US aircraft carrier. .
