3-Day Trip Becomes 3-Week Ordeal For Stranded Jamaican Fishermen
A 3-day fishing trip becomes a 3-week ordeal for two Jamaicans after their small boat broke a motor, leaving the stranded in the sweltering Caribbean sea.
The Jamaicans survived the 3-week ordeal by eating raw fish they caught and drinking the melted ice they had brought to keep their catch cold, The Associated Press reported. Finally, after their planned 3-day trip becomes a 3-week ordeal in the hot sun, the fisherman were spotted by the Colombian navy and rescued from the sea.
Everton Gregory, 54, and John Sobah, 58, said they shoved off on November 20, carrying 14 buckets of ice and 16 gallons of water along with several bags of cereal, bread, and fruit. Their plan was to travel to Finger Bank, an 8-mile stretch of sand spit known for its good supply of wahoo, tuna, and mahi mahi.
The men spent 3 days there, and then set off to return home, but the boat’s engine died. They were in water too deep to anchor and the current was too swift for them to row, so they ended up drifting slowly away from Jamaica.
As the 3-day trip becomes 3-week ordeal, the men burned through their food and began to eat the fish they caught instead. They tried to catch rainwater, but it remained dry throughout the trip. Near the end they ran out of water, and with only three to five days before they would die of thirst, the Colombian navy founded the men.
This is the second case this month of stranded Jamaicans being rescued after being lost at sea for three weeks. On December 17 a crew of five who got stranded on the way to a barbecue were found by a cruise ship and brought back home, The Associated Press reported.
On Saturday the men went home, where they were treated for severe dehydration, malnutrition and hypothermia.
“It feels good,” Sobah told the AP in a phone interview.
Even though the 3-day trip becomes a 3-week ordeal that the men barely survived, Gregory said he plans to go out fishing again because he needs the work. Sobah says he won’t go out again.
