Peruvian fisherman rescued after 95 days at sea

A Peruvian fisherman has been rescued after spending an extraordinary 95 days lost at sea, surviving on a desperate diet of cockroaches, birds, fish, and even turtle blood.

Máximo Napa Castro, known by his nickname Gatón, told CNN that it was his unwavering faith and longing to reunite with his family that kept him alive through the ordeal.

“Firstly, it was my faith in God. Because I spoke to him for many days. Because I let him know how important my family was. My mother, my brother, my children,” he said during an interview with CNN’s Jimena De La Quintana.

Castro admitted that maintaining hope was a daily battle as his morale weakened and his food supply diminished. At his lowest point, he said he contemplated ending his life.

“I even got a knife three times. Three times I got the knife because I couldn’t take it anymore,” he said. “But I told myself: Calm down, Gatón. You can do it. You can do it.”

Initially, he had packed enough provisions to last about a month. But just as he planned to return, his boat’s engine failed. Despite repeated attempts, he was unable to repair it, forcing him to stretch his remaining food and water for as long as possible.

When his rations finally ran out, Castro resorted to extreme survival tactics.

“After January and February, that’s when I started eating roaches and birds, various kinds of fish that happened to jump into the boat.”

He explained that he had to hunt birds at night while they slept on his boat, using a club to catch them.

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“I didn’t want to do it but I didn’t have a choice. It was my life.”

With nothing left to drink, he once even hunted a turtle—not for its meat, but for its blood.

His rescue finally came when, just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard a voice calling out his nickname from a helicopter.

“That’s when I said (to God): You did it! You did it!”

The helicopter crew signalled that another boat was on its way to bring him home. As night set in, Castro spotted the lights of the approaching vessel.

“It was something sensational,” he said.

Now recovering, Castro says his ordeal has reshaped his outlook on life.

“I will tell my story worldwide, so the world knows that God is everything in this life, that we put our hand on our chest and fill ourselves with love, give love. That is what we need here on Earth.”

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