Mexican fishermen rescued after months at sea

THREE Mexican fishermen who claim they set out nine months ago from Mexico’s western coast have been rescued near the Marshall Islands — 8,800 kilometres to the west — after surviving on rain water and raw fish.

Eugene Muller, manager of Koo’s Fishing Company, said that the company’s boat picked up the three on August 9. Mr Muller said the men were recovering and would be brought back to Majuro, the islands’ capital, in 10 to 14 days.

“We fished, and we ate the fish raw because there was no fire to cook with,” survivor Jesus Vidana, 27, told Mexico’s Televisa news network.

They once went 15 days without food but had enough drinking water because “it rained every day”, he said.

He said the three read the Bible as they drifted across the Pacific.

“We never lost hope because there is a God up there,” he said. “Our feet are swollen, our arms are swollen but we’re not in that bad shape.”

Mr Vidana said he and the other two men set off on October 28, 2005, from San Blas, a coastal town about 660 kilometres north-west of Mexico City, to fish for sharks. But mechanical problems and adverse winds quickly pushed their 27-foot boat out to sea.

There was no independent confirmation of the date when the men set out from San Blas; phone calls to port officials there went unanswered.

However, the government news agency Notimex interviewed relatives of the men in San Blas, who said they had only been missing for three months.

Mr Muller said the men’s boat appeared to have had engine problems.

“Their two motors had been dismantled, and it seemed they were trying to swap parts to get one working,” Mr Muller said.

Survivor Lucio Rendon, 27, recalled that “we didn’t see any ships for months”.

“We’re recovering,” Mr Rendon said, “sleeping a lot, and eating well.”

Salvador Ordonez, the third survivor, said the three carried flashlights and a compass but no radio.