Posted on 08/16/2006 6:47:00 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Three Mexican fishermen found drifting in the Pacific Ocean could have been lost for almost a year and two others were missing and presumed dead, the manager of a fishing company that rescued them said on Wednesday.
Early reports suggested the fishermen had been lost at sea for about three months and drifted more than 8,000 km (5,000 miles) before they were found by a Taiwanese tuna fishing trawler in waters between the Marshall Islands and Kiribati on August 9.
But Eugene Muller, manager of Koo's Fishing Co. Ltd in the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro, said it now appeared they had been at sea much longer than that in an extraordinary story of maritime survival.
"The first report was three months, but after that we got some more word from the ship that it might have been since last September," Muller told Reuters by telephone from Majuro.
"It's a pretty long way from where they're from. It's more than three months," he said.
The three men -- identified in media reports as Salvador Ordonez Vasques, Jesus Eduardo Vidana Lopez and Lucio Randon Bacerro -- are all from the town of San Blas on Mexico's Pacific coast.
Muller said details of how the men survived remained sketchy because of language difficulties between the Mexican fisherman and the Taiwanese crew of the trawler that rescued them.
He said it appeared the three men had survived on rain water, sea birds and fish they had been able to catch as they drifted in their 25-foot-long (8 meter) fibreglass boat.
"They were very skinny and very hungry," he said.
Muller said there were five men aboard the boat when it set out from San Blas.
"Two of them jumped overboard a few days into their ordeal," he said. No further details were available about the other two men, who were presumed dead, he said.
It appeared their small fishing boat, equipped with two 200 horsepower outboard motors, had suffered engine problems soon after it left San Blas.
"It looks like they had engine problems because their motors had been dismantled and it seemed like they were trying to salvage parts from one to get the other one working," Muller said.
The trawler which rescued the men was not expected to dock in the Marshalls for up to two weeks.
Muller said Marshall Islands government officials had contacted the Mexican Embassy in New Zealand, which handles relations between the Marshalls and Mexico, to arrange for the repatriation of the fishermen.
The Mexican embassy in Wellington said the matter was being handled by the Mexican foreign ministry in Mexico City and gave no further details.
"Hmmmmmm."
My thoughts exactly.
Something is fishy,a 25 ft.boat with 2 -200 horse motors and no RADIO. very dumb.
I don't think so because I don't believe drug smugglers would have known enough to survive. This is something that legitimate sailors or fishermen would be better equipped mentally and physically to handle. JMHO
Monty Python's Lifeboat sketch
(Scene: The interior of a ship. Seagulls are crying.)
(groans and coughs)
1: Still no sign of land. How long is it?
2: That's a rather personal question, sir.
(low voices)
1: You stupid git. I meant how long has it been in the lifeboat?
You've destroyed the atmosphere now.
2: I'm sorry.
1: Shut up. Start again.
1: Still no sign of land. How long is it?
2: 33 days, sir.
1: Thirty-three days?
2: We can't go on much longer.
(low voices)
I didn't think I destroyed the atmosphere.
1: Shut up.
2: Well, I don't think I did.
1: 'Course you did.
2: (aside, to 3) Did you think I destroyed the atmosphere?
3: Yes I think you did.
1: Shut up. Shut up!
1: Still no sign of land. How long is it?
2: 33 days, sir.
4: Have we started again? [slap]
1: STILL no sign of land. How long is it?
2: 33 days, sir.
1: Thirty-three days?
2: We can't go on much longer, sir. We haven't eaten since the fifth day.
5: We're done for, we're done for!
1: Shut up, Morley.
2: We've just got to keep hoping. Someone may find us.
6: How we feeling, Captain?
C: Not too good. I...I feel so weak.
2: We can't hold out much longer.
C: Listen...chaps...there's still a chance. I'm...done for, I've...got a
gamy leg and I'm going fast; I'll never get through. But...some of you
might. So...you'd better eat me.
?: Eat you, sir?
C: Yes. Eat me.
?: Iiuuhh! With a gamy leg?
C: You didn't eat the leg, Thompson. There's still plenty of good meat.
Look at that arm.
5: It's not just the leg, sir.
C: What do you mean?
5: Well, sir...it's just that -
C: Why don't you want to eat me?
5: I'd rather eat Johnson, sir!
?: So would I, sir.
C: I see.
?: I'm not a salad...everyone's gonna eat me! << ? >>
?: Uh, well.
5: What, sir?
?: Go ahead, please, but I won't -
?: Oh nonsense, sir, you're starving; ducking.
1: No, no, it's not that.
?: What's the matter with Johnson, sir?
1: Well, he's not kosher.
5: That depends how we kill him, sir.
1: Yes, that's true. But to be perfectly frank I...I like my meat a little
more lean. I'd rather eat Hodges.
?: Oh well, all right.
5: I still prefer Johnson.
C: I wish you'd all stop bickering and eat me.
1: Look. I tell you what. Those who want to can eat Johnson. And you,
sir, can have my leg. And we make some stock from the Captain, and then
we'll have Johnson cold for supper.
Crew: (cacophonous)
Hmm, yes, good idea, excellent thinking, very good, I don't suppose
we could have Hodges in the morning, jolly good idea, etc.
Maybe they thought they could get a cheap emergency radio in Taiwan.
'Course fisherman have routinely been recruited as drug smugglers. A lot of guys made a trip or two over the years.
11 months at sea? I bet not.
Can one really roam around the sea for 11 months and never see land?
I'm thinking they may have been lost but they've stopped off along the way.
11 months is beleievable, if drifing. Saw a story a while back on a fellow who went on a day sail to Catalina Is in a 26 foot daysailor. Hit by a storm, he was found off the coast of Central America after being at sea some 3 or 4 months. (see below)
Folks have sailed around the world on a 19 foot boat and across the Atlantic on a 15 foot kayak and a 12 foot lapstrake dingy.
see http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20030131-0018-ca-waywardsailor.html
"Richard Van Pham, who fascinated the world when he was rescued from a crippled sailboat southwest of Costa Rica last year, was plucked to safety by the Coast Guard this week after he was found off the coast of Orange County. "
"Can one really roam around the sea for 11 months and never see land?"
If you were under sail power; American whalers did, I believe, although they preferred to come to land for fresh water when they could.
I believe that the Marshall islands are a US territory or protectorate. They made it, sort of, but in drawing attention to themselves with their story they will be sent back.
"Muller said there were five men aboard the boat when it set out from San Blas.
"Two of them jumped overboard a few days into their ordeal," he said. No further details were available about the other two men, who were presumed dead, he said."
Donner Party, table for five, Donner Party...
Once I spent a year in Philadelphia -- I think it was on a Sunday.
"Two of them jumped overboard a few days into their ordeal"
People who have survived being adrift for long periods have described experiencing vivid hallucinations. These two may have imagined they saw land - or a beautiful mermaid:)
Wow! Amazing!
>"I spent a year in Philly">
Yeah I know what you mean, I spent a year in Newark airport during a 5 hour layover. Wow I was ready to leave.
Bwahahahahaha
"I believe that the Marshall islands are a US territory or protectorate."
Dear Sir, I am glad to hear that your studio audience disapproves of the last skit as strongly as I. As a naval officer I abhor the implication that the Royal Navy is a haven for cannibalism. It is well known that we now have the problem relatively under control, and that it is the RAF who now suffer the largest casualties in this area. And what do you think the Argylls ate in Aden. Arabs? Yours etc. Captain B.J. Smethwick in a white wine sauce with shallots, mushrooms and garlic.
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