Lone Fisherman Survives 11 Days at Sea Floating in Freezer

2022-09-17 00:48:23 By : Mr. Sam Ning

A Brazilian fisherman reportedly spent 11 days floating in the Atlantic Ocean in a freezer.

Romualdo Macedo Rodrigues told Record TV, a Brazilian broadcaster, that he embarked on what was supposed to be a three-day fishing trip when his vessel sank, The Independent reported. Unable to swim, he jumped inside a freezer from his boat and floated in the Atlantic Ocean before eventually being rescued.

"I saw [the freezer] wasn't sinking. I jumped [and] it fell to one side and kept normal," Rodrigues reportedly told Record TV. "That freezer was God in my life. The only thing I had was the freezer. It was a miracle...I thought I wouldn't be telling this story, but I'm back here."

According to Seafarers' Rights International (SRI), a "strategic research" organization for the maritime industry, "[f]ishers are more likely to lose their lives at work than those in other occupations."

"In the U.K., where safety rules are very tight, fatal accidents among fishers were 115 times greater than for the overall workforce [between] 1996 and 2005," the organization said. "In the United States in 2000, the rate of fatalities at work among fishers was 25-30 times the national average."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said a review of U.S. fishing data from 2000-2015 revealed that nearly half of all fishing fatalities occurred due to a vessel disaster, 30 percent occurred when a fisherman fell overboard and 12 percent resulted from an onboard injury.

"Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States," the CDC reaffirmed.

Newsweek reached out to the CDC for more information.

Rodrigues said he didn't have any food or water during his time in the freezer, resulting in an 11-pound weight loss. He also said his eyes were "damaged by the sun and wind," and his body was severely dehydrated, The Independent said.

Further, water seeped into the freezer at one point during his time at sea, and at another, a group of sharks circled the freezer.

"Every day, I [thought] about my mother, my father [and] all my family. It gave me strength and hope...but at the moment, I thought there was no other way," Rodrigues said of the shark incident.

Fortunately, a group of fishermen eventually rescued Rodrigues off the coast of Suriname, "280 miles away from where he sank," The Independent said.

On Monday, a video showing the moment a shark crashed into a fisherman after landing on his boat went viral with over 500,000 views.

In August, four people were injured in a Florida boat explosion that "sent flames and debris into the air."

And in May, one person died and another went missing after their boat capsized in Colorado.

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