Panamanians survive 11 days adrift thanks to floating coconuts

Three Panamanian men have survived 11 days drifting in the Pacific, surviving on rainwater and coconuts that floated past.

The men encountered difficulties when their engine stalled during a routine trip from Veracruz, outside Panama City, to refuel a fishing boat.

“We gave it gas around 5pm, 6pm in the afternoon,” Blas Olivardia, 30, says in a video released to the media by the navy. “And then when everyone took off, after a certain distance, our engine stalled.”

“From then on, our journey started with the north wind. It took 11 days,” he adds.

Lacking any supplies, the men turned to rainwater and floating coconuts.

The coconuts “came in the current, we grabbed them, broke them and ate them,” says 27-year-old Rey Arturo Torres Panama, who was also rescued alongside 21-year-old Jose Olivardia.

Eventually, the men were spotted by a Columbian navy patrol boat. Navy Lieutenant Commander Juan David Rendon told AFP that the three men “were fine” despite the time spent at sea.

The Columbian navy released a photo of the rescued trio, taken after their rescue on 2 February, showing the trio looking healthy despite two of them lacking shoes.

Last year, the Colombian navy rescued a Dominican man, Elvis Francois, after 24 days adrift. At that time, Francois said he had survived by eating ketchup and seasoning sachets stored on his boat and collecting rainwater with a cloth.

Such was the furore that US ketchup manufacturer Heinz offered to buy Francois a new boat. A few months later, Francois told the media that, despite the viral marketing campaign, the money he received from Heinz was ultimately not enough to purchase the boat he wanted.

Main image courtesy of Colombian navy.