Man Rescued, Relatives Found Dead Two Months After Boat Drifted Into Sea
By
OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
A man has been rescued after drifting in an inflatable boat for two months, but his brother and nephew were reportedly found dead in the boat.
He was found by a fishing boat in the Sea of Okhotsk, the coldest sea in east Asia, according to the local prosecutor’s office.
Mikhail Pichugin, 46, said he had set off along with his 49-year-old brother and 15-year-old nephew on a whale-watching trip to the Shantar Islands in early August, Russian media reported.
Efforts to reach them had been futile after they had failed to return from Sakhalin Island.
The bodies of his brother and nephew were said to be still in the boat when a fishing boat rescued Mr Pichugin on Monday off the Kamchatka Peninsula.
He weighed only 50kg (7st 12lbs), per reports.
Russian media said the trio had a small amount of food and about 20 litres of water left when their engine failed.
It’s currently unclear how the man survived and his relatives died.
A video released by prosecutors shows Mr Pichugin in a life jacket and desperately shouting “come here!” as the fishing crew approaches.
The boat initially thought the tiny blip on their radar was a buoy or piece of junk.
“I have no strength left,” he said as he was finally rescued.
An investigation is underway to know the causes of the deaths.
