He fell from a fishing boat into the sea and survived 14 hours by hanging onto an old buoy

Her name is Vidam Perevertilov. Sailor by profession, he is 52 years old, he was born in Lithuania, he is the chief engineer on board the Barco Silver Supporter and last week he starred in a dangerous and unusual event that is making the news today on the portals of the world: he fell apart and 14 hours without life jacket or boat.

What happened? While I was working and crossing Pacific Ocean, the man fell overboard around 4 a.m. on February 16 between New Zealand and the British territory of Pitcairn and he endured and swam for hours until when the sun began to rise he saw an old fishing buoy and clung to it. So he resisted.

According to what was published by The Guardian newspaper, the incident occurred while the freighter was on a supply route between the port of Tauranga and Pitcairn. He was brought back to the bridge and rescued 14 hours later.

About the reasons for the crash, Perevertilov told his son that he felt dizzy after completing a night shift in the engine room and had climbed onto the deck to recover. “He doesn’t remember falling overboard. You may have passed out before ”, Said Marat Perevetilov, who also said that after this his father only remembers regaining consciousness and seeing his ship go off in the dark.

“His will to survive was strong, but he told me that until the sun came up he was just trying to stay afloat,” he added.

For its part the crew did not note that he was missing for six hours. It was only after that the ship sent a radio distress call. A search operation was then triggered which included French Navy planes reaching Polynesia, while the weather service examined winds and currents to determine likely patterns of their drift.

Fall off the ship Perevertilov was about 750 kilometers south of the southernmost islands of French Polynesia. In the middle of the ocean, his boat out of sight, he saw a black spot on the horizon and without knowing what it was, he swam towards it. It was the decision that saved his life. Was an abandoned fishing buoy, marine debris that other ships lose in the water and stay there for years.

The man clung to her until they found him, several hours later, around 6 p.m. Tuesday of last week. The maritime authorities had drawn up a search pattern and in the middle of this journey a member of the crew heard a low voice and a lookout saw a hand raised in the ocean. Apart from his fatigue, There were no injuries or health problems.

After the rescue was confirmed, Britain’s High Commissioner to New Zealand Laura Clarke, who is also governor of Pitcairn Island, said everyone was “tremendously relieved”. “We feared the worst, given the enormous scale of the Pacific Ocean and its strong currents. So the fact that he survived is just amazing. “

Eventually, Perevetilov’s son repeated a confession from his father: when he was rescued, he thought about taking the buoy with him as a sort of souvenir but then decided not to. “It’s funny. He said he wanted to leave her there so she could save someone else’s life,” Marat closed.

THE NATION