Turtles Kept Lost Peruvian Fishermen Alive
Date: 14-Jun-04
Country: PERU
The men set out on March 25 in the Pacific Ocean in a fishing boat without radio equipment.
They soon ran out of food and turned to eating turtles caught from the boat, El Comercio reported.
The sailors tried drinking the water in the radiator of the ship's engine but quickly realized it was toxic and turned to turtle blood instead.
"Thanks to training on a survival course, we also knew how to heat salt water to give us half a liter (2 pints) of drinking water every day," fisherman Manuel Ramirez told El Comercio.
An Ecuadorean ship rescued the men some 700 miles from the Peruvian coast on May 23. Each had lost 22 pounds (10 kg), the paper said.
