Two Mexican fishermen have been rescued alive from the Pacific Ocean after an extraordinary five-day ordeal in which they survived inside a cooler after their fishing boat sank, leaving them stranded roughly 150 miles off Mexico’s coast.
Daniel Guerrero Martinez and Jose Luis Portales Villegas were found alive on Wednesday, five days after contact with their vessel was lost. The men reportedly had no supply of food or drinking water during their ordeal and were suffering from severe dehydration by the time rescuers reached them.
The dramatic episode began last Thursday, when Martinez and Villegas departed from the fishing town of Paredón aboard their vessel, the Camaronera. Communication with the fishermen was lost the following day, and authorities later determined that their boat had gone down.
Investigators initially believe severe weather conditions and powerful winds may have caused the vessel to sink, although authorities are continuing to investigate exactly what happened.
A large-scale search-and-rescue operation was launched after the fishermen were reported missing. Boats and aircraft combed the Pacific in hopes of finding them, with the Mexican Navy later joining the effort and deploying both naval and aerial resources across the search area.
After days without any sign of the missing men, rescuers finally located Martinez and Villegas approximately 240 kilometers — about 150 miles — off the coast of the Mexican state of Chiapas. Despite spending five days exposed at sea inside the cooler, both men were still alive.
The fishermen were suffering from serious dehydration after their prolonged time in the ocean, and immediately after their rescue, they were airlifted by helicopter to a hospital for emergency medical treatment.
The Mexican Navy praised the personnel involved in the operation, saying their efforts made it possible to return the two fishermen alive to their families after an ordeal that could easily have ended in tragedy.
Authorities have meanwhile opened an investigation into the sinking of the Camaronera as they seek to determine precisely what caused the fishing vessel to go down and leave Martinez and Villegas fighting for survival for five days in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
{Matzav.com}
