A fisherman has been rescued alive after spending eight days lost at sea without any food or water. Héctor Márquez Martínez, known as 'Chico', vanished after setting out to fish from Puerto Ángel in Oaxaca state, Mexico, aboard his small boat, the Josmarcito. He was expected to be back within a few hours.
Search and rescue efforts
When he failed to come home, a search was launched involving relatives, local fishermen, volunteers and the Mexican Navy. He went missing on August 31 and was finally spotted on Sunday when the crew of a cargo ship discovered his tiny vessel around 299 miles south of Huatulco.
The crew made contact with the stranded fisherman and provided him with food, water and fuel before passing his location to authorities. Despite being found, Héctor's ordeal was not yet over, as communication difficulties reportedly meant he could not immediately be transferred onto the cargo ship.
Navy recovery
The breakthrough came on September 7, when the Mexican Navy's ARM “Monte Albán” reached his vessel. A Navy spokesperson said: “The ARM Monte Albán located the small vessel and carried out the necessary manoeuvres to recover the fisherman, who was brought to safety and taken aboard the ship.”
After eight days adrift at sea, Héctor was found to be in a stable condition. He was suffering from dehydration and given treatment by Navy medics.
Previous similar incident
Last month, two Mexican fishermen were found alive in the Pacific Ocean after five days floating in a giant cooler box. Daniel Guerrero Martínez and José Luis Portelas Villegas set sail from Paredón, in Mexico's Chiapas state on August 13 to fish in the Pacific Ocean. Five days later, on Wednesday, the fishermen, aged 53 and 32, were located 130 nautical miles off the coast by naval personnel, sitting inside a large food storage unit.
A navy spokesperson said: “Two fishermen who spent five days adrift on a cool box were located and rescued by naval personnel more than 240km off the coast of Chiapas. The deployment of surface and air units under the Trinomio concept [ship–interceptor–aircraft] made it possible to expand the search, locate the fishermen, bring them to safety and reunite them with their families.” They were understood to be suffering from severe dehydration, but are otherwise fine.
