Elvis Francois, age 47, a Dominican who claims to have lived 24 days at sea on a sailboat by surviving on ketchup, garlic powder, and spice cubes, was found by the Colombian navy.
Officials claim that the English word “help” that Francois had scratched on the boat’s hull was crucial to his rescue.
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The sailboat was discovered 120 nautical miles northwest of the La Guajira peninsula by aircraft, and Francois was transported to the port city of Cartagena by a passing cargo ship, according to a statement released by the Colombian navy on Wednesday.
According to Francois, his journey started in December when currents washed his sailboat out to sea as he was performing maintenance near his home island of St. Martin in the Netherlands Antilles.
“I called my friends, they tried to contact me, but I lost the signal. There was nothing else to do but sit and wait,” Francois recounted in a military film that was made public.
According to him, he lived off of a bottle of ketchup, some garlic powder, and Maggi cubes.
Francois claimed he used a handkerchief to gather rainfall, according to Cmdr. Carlos Urbano Montes, who spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday. Though he claimed to have dropped weight, he said Francois was confirmed to be in good health.
On the videotape, Francois claimed that in order to keep the boat from sinking, he had to constantly drain water from it. He unsuccessfully attempted to start a fire to signal for help.
Finally, he flashed a mirror signal as a jet flew by. When the jet passed again, he claimed to have been observed, according to the navy.
“At some point, I lost hope and thought about my family, but I thank the coast guard. If it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be telling the story,” said Francois.
The merchant ship picked up Francois, according to Urbano Montes, leaving the sailboat abandoned at sea.
The navy reported that after receiving a medical examination on land, Francois was turned over to immigration officials so he could travel back to Dominica.
