The crab collector Maxim Napa returned to his family after spending 95 days stranded in the Pacific Ocean, forced to feed on tarantulas, birds, and sea turtles to survive.
Napa set sail for fishing from the Markona area on the southern coast of Peru on December 7 of last year with enough provisions for two weeks. However, after 10 days of frosty weather, he lost his boat's course and ended up stranded in the Pacific Ocean.
His family began searching, but the coast guard in Peru couldn’t find him until last week. Then, a fishing patrol from Ecuador spotted him adrift 1,094 kilometers from shore in a state of severe malnutrition and critical health.
Napa told Reuters after meeting with his brother in Paita near the border with Ecuador: "I refused to give up and die... He (the tarantula), birds, but in the end, turtles."
He explained that he drew strength from thoughts of his family, especially his daughter, whom he hadn’t seen for two months, even though he had to survive on rainwater, which he collected on the boat, and the supplies of food that he ultimately spent during the last 15 days without it.
It is expected that Napa will undergo additional medical examination in Paita before heading south to Lima.