Many people have seen the hit movie Cast Away, with Tom Hanks and his lovable volleyball Wilson, and it made $233,632,142! Although millions of people loved the movie, those same people would never want to be in that situation. Well, this was the case for Jose Salvador Alvarenga, a 37 year old fisherman from Mexico. According to Alvarenga, in December 2012, he left Mexico in a 23-foot fiber glass boat with a teenage companion named Ezekiel for what was supposed to be a day trip of fishing. A storm blew their boat off course, and caused them to become disoriented and adrift. He said that Ezekiel died a month later.
More than a year after Alvarenga said he left Mexico, he said he swam ashore on Ebon, a tiny atoll in the Marshall Islands, where news of his remarkable tale of survival quickly spread. The long-haired fisherman, who had a scruffy beard, smiled and waved to a crowd of onlookers as he clutched what would have been one of his first cans of Coca-Cola since he washed up on the remote Marshall Islands, some 5,500 miles away from Mexico. Despite the ordeal, Alvarenga was still chubby faced. Alvarenga said he survived 13 months drifting in the Pacific Ocean by eating fish, birds, and turtles, but officials expressed cautious skepticism at the man’s story as they worked to verify details. The man also claims he scooped up little fish that swam alongside his drifting boat and ate them raw, while also drinking bird blood to quench his thirst. Alvarenga is currently undergoing a medical check in the Marshall Islands, and once Alvarenga finishes his medical check, he will be headed home.