Elvis Francois did not think that his journey in the Caribbean Sea would have ended with his survival after his boat got lost and he stayed at sea for 24 days alone.
At first glance, the details of what the 47-year-old man lived seem to be taken from a movie, as he spent more than 3 weeks alone at sea, and during that period he believed that he would never return to his homeland in the Dominican Republic.
The secret lies in his survival - according to what was published by the French magazine Le Point - in his consumption of "ketchup", as François explained that "I had nothing to eat except a bottle of ketchup, garlic powder and bouillon cubes (Maggie)."
"I mixed everything with water to live for about 24 days," he added in a video released by the Colombian Navy.
According to the Dominican Republic's maritime authorities, Francois was rescued after more than 3 weeks of painstaking searching, and the man was finally rescued in Colombian waters.
#Sociedad #Video Elvis Francois, the young man who sobrevió as a man in Colombia https://t.co/600JzU9z76
— BluRadio Colombia (@BluRadioCo) January 18, 2023
Help and details
François notes that on January 15, when he saw a plane passing by, he used a mirror with the word "Help" written on it, and sent signals "with the reflection of sunlight."
He added that when he saw the plane pass twice, he understood that its crew had seen him, and indicated that the Colombian navy quickly came to his rescue with the support of a merchant ship.
Elvis Francois, a ciudadano dominicano que naufragó por el mar Caribe durante 24 days y sobrevivió with tomato salsa, polvo de ajo y caldo, fue rescatado por la @ArmadaColombia cerca in Puerto Bolívar, La Guajira.
pic.twitter.com/UuMMpT0Ltr
- Mauricio Vanegas (@Marovaan) January 18, 2023
The French magazine indicates that the details of the story go back to last December, when Francois was repairing a sailboat off a port in St. Martin of the Antilles, and because of bad weather the water dragged the boat out to sea, so that Elvis Francois found himself lost, with little chance of survival. He is - as he says - unfamiliar with navigation, and his efforts to maneuver the ship and the equipment on board are futile.
And he stated that he tried in vain to make calls to contact the authorities or his family, and with the loss of hope he did nothing but sit and wait.
On this matter, he says, "24 days away from Earth, alone without anyone to talk to, I didn't know what to do or where I was, it was difficult, and sometimes I lost hope, and thinking about my family was what occupied me."