Two months after disappearing

The castaway left with two deceased relatives.

All kinds of castaway survival stories have existed throughout history. Alexander Selkirk spent four years and four months alone on an island. His tale influenced Robinson Crusoe and others. Twenty-one Essex whaler crew members survived 93 days adrift a century later, inspiring Moby Dick. Cannibalism helped land-dwellers. Even the Titanic had many survivors. Something equally surprising happened in Russia.

The news. International media are covering a video of 46-year-old Russian Mikhail Pichugin. As emergency services work to rescue a bearded man in an orange life jacket, a small catamaran-type boat with a red flag on a mast is seen. The man shouts, “I don’t have much strength.”

It appears he survived over two months adrift. He is alone in a small inflatable boat in the unthinkably cold Siberian seas. Despite his luck, Pichugin recounted his terrible experience upon arrival. According to authorities and reports, his brother and teenage nephew died.

The story takes place in the Sea of Okhotsk, surrounded by Eastern Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The enclave is East Asia’s coldest sea, freezing between October and March.

On August 9, two adult men and their 15-year-old son took a catamaran to Sakhalin Island “to watch whales.” Russia’s Far East transport prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Elena Krasnoyarova said “after a while, contact with them was lost and their whereabouts remained unknown.”

The three castaways were not seen again until October 14, when a fishing boat discovered the catamaran near Ust-Khayryuzovo in Kamchatka region at around 10:00 p.m. At 1,000 km and 66 days after departure, it was found.

What happened? Pichugin’s wife told Russian state media while prosecutors investigate. Given that the castaway weighed 100 kg before setting off, she believes his weight may have saved him.

The wife told the media that “it is some kind of miracle” that Pichugin and his late brother and nephew had enough food for two weeks. The man is “in serious condition but stable and conscious”. His weight is now 50 kg, half his original.

Hypothesis. Pichugin may face criminal charges and a seven-year prison sentence after transport police investigated safety violations.

The Guardian reported that police sources said he had 20 litres of water, collected rainwater, and ate dried noodles and peas. Pichugin told rescue fishermen his nephew had died in early September, and the brothers spent three weeks on the boat together. He also said that sitting for so long caused sores and that his brother fell into the icy water while washing himself. These reports say Pichugin retrieved him but died shortly after.

Other survivals. If we analyse the provisions available for more than two months adrift in extreme temperatures, what happened is tremendous without knowing the truth that the investigation reveals. We mentioned earlier that history is full of singular cases where humans surprised death.

Examples include Yamaguchi, who survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs, the Titanic baker with his bottle of alcohol, the woman who survived 47 years after being declared dead, and the man who could tell his story after 48 days without a heart.

Two months after disappearing

The castaway left with two deceased relatives.

By ki0nk

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