Marooned sailor survived on dog biscuits

A 61-year-old man has been rescued virtually unharmed after drifting in the Baltic Sea for nearly three weeks after his motor boat broke down.

Swede Hans Roger Edstroem, who survived on a diet of dog biscuits and sugar, was rescued by Latvian coastguards on Thursday night.

“I watched the sun come up and then I watched it go down,” Edstroem said today, explaining how he whiled away the time during on his 20 ft boat Angelica. Fishermen spotted Edstroem drifting about five miles off Latvia’s northwest coast and alerted maritime authorities

A rescue boat picked him up and took him to Ventspils, 125 miles from the capital, Riga.

He was treated at a hospital for dehydration and released this morning.

Edstroem said he set off from an island near Stockholm on September 1 with enough food for six days. Two days later, he said, the 42-year-old boat’s battery went dead and so his engine and radio no longer worked.

After his regular provisions ran out, he said he found some dog food on board and made “a porridge” from it. He also ate a two-pound sack of sugar. Both dog food and sugar ran out nine days before his rescue.

Edstroem said he was on his way to the Baltic Sea island of Gotland, 60 miles east off the Swedish mainland. Latvia is 100 miles further east.

Edstroem said he never exhausted his supply of water but carefully rationed it.

“It’s a big wonder that he has survived. I think he has his own lucky star,” said hospital spokesman Gundars Daudze.