A man survived twenty-four days lost at sea by eating ketchup, garlic powder, and Maggi seasoning cubes.
With resources and hope failing, he was eventually rescued by a plane, passing container ship, and the Columbian navy.
According to “The Telegraph”, Elvis Francois told rescuers that he had been repairing a sailboat near a harbour on the island of St Martin where he lives, when the weather turned nasty and he was swept away from the coast.
The publication reported that Francois made frantic calls on his mobile phone but then the signal died and he was left adrift with no way to communicate.
I am so sorry for Elvis Francois. God is marvelous and wonderful. Francois has been living in the sea for 12 days without food. He was eating only tomato ketchup, garlic and some liquid drink. How he survived, god knows.
“I called my friends, they tried to contact me, but I lost the signal. There was nothing else to do but sit and wait. I had no food. There was only a bottle of ketchup that was on the boat, garlic powder, and Maggi (seasoning cubes). So I mixed it up with some water for me to survive 24 days in the sea.
Twenty-four days – no land, nobody to talk to, don't know what to do, don't know where you are - it was rough”, he is reported as saying.
The publication also revealed that Francois was not a sailor and did not know how to navigate or use any of the equipment on the boat. The boat was letting in water and he had to keep bailing it out to stop it from sinking.
Elvis Francois, lost at sea 24 days, survived on ketchup..what a story, miracles do happen.
— kellyl8n (@kellyl8n) January 20, 2023
“He tried various ways to attract attention, including carving “Help” on the hull of the boat and lighting a fire to send a distress signal to passing boats, but none of them saw him.
“He was eventually rescued after using a mirror to catch the glare of the sun and was spotted from the air 120 miles northwest of the La Guajira peninsula, nearly 1000 miles southwest of where he had started out.
“A nearby civilian container ship picked him up and took him to the Colombian port city of Cartagena,” said The Telegraph.