It’s a miracle, and the remarkable resilience of a Russian man who survived 67 days adrift in icy seas on a small inflatable boat, the engine of which failed, while whale-watching in the Sea of Okhotsk, the coldest sea in East Asia known for its gales.
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A fishing vessel, called Angel, proved as such for the man as it spotted the boat this week (on Oct 14) and the fishermen rescued 46-year-old Mikhail Pichugin about 11 nautical miles off Kamchatka and about 540 nautical miles from its departure point.
According to Russian media, when the crew of the fishing vessel spotted the tiny inflatable boat on their radar, they initially thought it was a buoy or a piece of junk, but when they turned on the spotlight to make sure, they were shocked to see Pichugin waving and shouting at them for help.
Doctors attending on Pichugin have said he is suffering from dehydration and hypothermia but is in stable condition.
Sharing details, the news reports said Pichugin had set off to watch whales with his 49-year-old brother and 15-year-old nephew, but the boat’s engine shut down on way back on August 9 and subsequently one of the oars also broke rendering the boat uncontrollable. The only communication device which works in the Sea of Okhotsk is a satellite phone, which the family did not have.
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After being reported missing, emergency services made efforts to locate the trio but failed. Pichugin’s brother and nephew later died, and he tied their bodies to the boat to prevent them from being washed away.
Relating his harrowing experience from his hospital bed, Pichugin said after the drinking water and rations on board exhausted, they tried to collect rainwater and catch some fish. To overcome the shivering cold, they took turns to get into a sleeping bag with camel wool which got wet and did not dry.
Pichugin comes from Ulan-Ude in Siberia but working on the far eastern island of Sakhalin as a driver.
