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After living for over two months in a small inflatable boat in Russia’s frigid Sea of Okhotsk, a man was rescued; however, his brother and nephew perished.
According to the prosecutor’s office in far eastern Russia, a fishing trawler picked up the man on Monday off the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Mikhail Pichugin, 46, was named as the survivor in Russian press reports.
He embarked on a whale-watching expedition in the Sea of Okhotsk in early August with his brother Sergei, 49, and his nephew Ilya, 15.
According to media accounts, the three guys visited the Shantar Islands, which are located off the northwest coast of the sea.
On August 9, they left Cape Perovsky in the Khabarovsk region for the island of Sakhalin, but they never returned. They were not found despite a rescue attempt.
According to Russian media, when their boat’s engine failed and they were left adrift, the three had only a modest food ration and roughly 20 liters of water.
According to news accounts, Pichugin had dropped half of his body weight and weighed only approximately 50 kg when he was discovered.
Pichugin’s size probably saved him, according to his wife Yekaterina, who spoke to RIA Novosti.
According to her, the men had only brought enough water and food for two weeks.
Russian boat rescue
Before Pichugin was discovered, his boat had sailed across the raging Sea of Okhotsk for roughly a thousand kilometers. Picture: Google Maps
When the fishing boat Angel’s crew saw Pichugin’s little vessel on their radar late at night, they initially believed it to be a buoy or a piece of junk, according to accounts.
To be sure, they switched on a spotlight, and when they saw the man, they were startled.
Pichugin declined to explain how he survived the frigid Sea of Okhotsk, which is notorious for its gales, or how his brother and nephew perished.
When he was rescued, their remains were discovered in the inflatable boat. According to the Angel’s crew, they were tethered to the vessel to keep the sea from carrying them away.
Approximately 1000 kilometers from the trio’s departure location on the opposite side of the Sea of Okhotsk and 11 nautical miles off the coast of Kamchatka, north of Japan, Pichugin’s boat was discovered adrift.
An emaciated guy wearing a life jacket was seen frantically calling out, “Come here!” as the crew attempted to drag him back to safety in a video made public by the prosecutor’s office.
As he was led to safety, Pichugin remarked, “I have no strength left.”
On suspicion of breaking safety regulations that resulted in fatalities, prosecutors said they opened an inquiry into the incident.
Pichugin was taken to the Magadan hospital’s emergency room. Yuri Lednev, the chief physician, reported that although he was hypothermic and dehydrated, his condition was stable.
