- A Brazilian fisherman found himself stranded in the middle of the ocean when his boat began to sink.
- Romualdo Macedo Rodrigues, 44, took refuge inside a floating freezer and was adrift for 11 days.
A Brazilian fisherman incredibly survived in the ocean by taking refuge inside a floating freezer for 11 days after his boat sank, a report says.
Romualdo Macedo Rodrigues, 44, was on a fishing trip in the Atlantic Ocean when his 23ft-long wooden boat began filling with water, according to CNN affiliate Record TV.
He jumped inside the freezer he had on board, and it become his life raft for 11 days. He was eventually rescued by a fishing boat off the coast of Suriname by a group of fishermen, the outlet reported.
"I was desperate. I thought my end was coming. But thanks God, God gave me one more chance," Rodrigues told the outlet. "I saw it wasn't sinking. I jumped. It fell to one side and kept normal."
Rodrigues said he didn't know how to swim and, at times, feared a shark might attack him.
"Sharks were surrounding the freezer, but they went away. I didn't sleep. I saw the dawn, the dusk, asking God to send someone to rescue me," he said.
He said that eventually, the freezer began to fill with water, and he used his hands to scoop it out.
He survived despite apparently having no food or water, say reports. Typically, people cannot survive more than three days without water, but the world record is 18.
The video of him being rescued shows Rodrigues pleading for water. He was dehydrated and disorientated, had sunstroke, and his clothes were torn, reports said.
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Rodrigues explained to Record TV what kept him going through the nightmare "I was thinking about my kids, my wife. Every day I was thinking about my mother, my father, all my family. It gave me strength and hope," he said.
He described the moment he was rescued: "I heard a noise, and there was a boat on top of the freezer. Only they thought there was no one there. Then they slowly pulled over. My vision was already fading, then I said, 'My God, the boat.' I raised my arms and asked for help."
Yey, his ordeal was not over. The fisherman said he was detained in prison by authorities in Suriname for a 16 days as he did not have proper documentation, but he is now back in Brazil.
"That freezer was God in my life. The only thing I had was the freezer. It was a miracle," he said, according to the outlet.