Peru fisherman adrift for 95 days in Pacific shares emotional reunion
:: La Republica
:: March 14, 2025
:: Paita, Peru
:: Maximo Napa, Peruvian castaway
:: 'I'm thankful to God for giving me another chance.'
:: 'I was with Him (God), I did not want to die. It was 95 days. I ate roaches, birds, the last thing I ate was turtles. I didn't want to die. My mother, my mother is alive and I said I didn't want to die because of my mother. I have a two-month-old granddaughter, I held on to her.'
:: 'I thought about my mother everyday. I had no water. I lived on rainwater.'
:: 'God is great, that's all I can tell you. God is beautiful, he protected me because sometimes I'd spend seven days without eating. At the end I spent 15 days without eating. I thank God, but I'll speak to you later. Right now I want to be with my family.'
Maximo Napa had set off for a fishing trip from Marcona, a town on the southern Peruvian coast, on December 7. He packed food for a two week trip but ten days in, stormy weather threw his boat off course and he ended up adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
His family launched a search but Peru's maritime patrols were unable to locate him until Wednesday, when an Ecuadorian fishing patrol discovered him some 680 miles (1,094 km) off the country's coast, heavily dehydrated and in critical condition.
He said he stayed strong thinking about his family, including his two-month-old granddaughter, even as he survived on rainwater he collected on the boat and ran out of food, ultimately spending the last 15 days without eating.
Napa was scheduled for more medical checks in Paita before heading south to Lima.
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