A man in Brazil survived 11 days at sea before being found by rescuers… using only a refrigerator.
The story of being stuck or having to survive in the middle of a deserted island, in the middle of the sea seems to only exist in the movie but no, it is completely real with the story below.
Romualdo Macedo Rodrigues, 44 years old, he was planning to row his own boat to an island off the coast of France to fish when unfortunately had an accident. Romualdo’s boat breaks down and begins to sink.
However, despite deciding to go fishing, the man could not swim. In a critical situation, Romualdo took the risk to throw the refrigerator out and jump in it.
Fortunately, the refrigerator is floating, Romualdo paddles into it and hopes to be seen by rescuers.
After 11 days of drifting, Romualdo lost his sanity:
“I’m tired, even though I’m exhausted, I always have to be on the lookout for sharks to attack me.” Romualdo said, even when the refrigerator also started to leak, Romualdo had to fix it as quickly as possible.
On August 11, a fishing boat accidentally passed by and rescued:
“I heard the sound of a boat, my eyes were blurry and I couldn’t see anything, but my god, it was a boat.” Romualdo said he used the last of his strength to signal for help and thank goodness they saw.
According to calculations, Romualdo has drifted nearly 500km in the sea since the place where his ship was wrecked. Romualdo was rescued in a state of loss of consciousness and sunburn, his clothes ragged.
Romualdo was malnourished and lost more than 5kg after being close to death. He was treated in the hospital for some time before the interview.
“That refrigerator is my savior, I don’t know if they brought it back.” Romualdo said.
After a period of treatment, Romualdo’s physical and mental condition has improved, his eyesight has also improved, and his skin has recovered from a severe sunburn.
However, because he was drifted quite far, Romualdo accidentally went to another country and was detained for 16 days for illegal border crossing. He will be detained in France before being sent home to Brazil.
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