Monday, August 21, 2006

 

A Trans-Pacific Mexican Odyssey

 

By Allan Wall

 

The Mexican news media are concentrated, unsurprisingly, on the ongoing post-election contention.  Yet recently a quite different story came to light, which attracted its share of attention.

And this was a story with real human interest, a non-political saga – the odyssey of three Mexican fishermen who drifted 5,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean.

These three survivors, floating on a 27-foot fishing boat, were rescued near the Marshall Islands on August 9th by the Kuskooss, a Taiwanese tuna-fishing vessel.  They claim to have been adrift for over nine months.

The three men, Lucio Rendon, Salvador Ordoñez and Jesús Eduardo Vidaña (ranging in age from 27 to 39) reported that they had set out from the port of San Blas, Nayarit, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. They went out for a day or two to catch sharks, and wound up floating across the Pacific.  It was in late October or mid-November when they left Nayarit. (There are discrepancies in the dates reported).

 

Due to mechanical difficulties (both motors gave out) and a strong wind, the boat was carried out to the high seas, where it drifted until their rescue on August 9, 2006.  When the Kuskooss picked them up, the fishermen were thin and sunburned, yet they appeared to be healthy.

The sad part of the story is that they started out with two other companions, who perished between January and March. Following an old maritime tradition, the deceased were buried at sea.

So how did Rendon, Ordoñez and Vidaña survive?

They drank rainwater, which they stored in containers.

For food they captured flying fish. They caught fish with fishing hooks they fashioned from cables. And they caught ducks and seagulls. All of these foods they ate raw.  But they couldn’t eat on a daily basis, only when they could obtain food.  They would sometimes go two weeks without eating, or have to share one raw duck between the three of them.

Their psychological state was important for survival. According to Vidaña, “we never lost hope.”

Jorge Alvarez, a UNAM psychologist who studies victims of extreme situations, commented on the fishermen’s odyssey: “These persons displayed intelligence for having adapted during so many months. When the fisherman found themselves in a critical situation, they summoned up their strength … the hope of being rescued kept them fighting, alive … desperation didn’t reign among them.”  Their mental health, he said, “was tested….”

Their spiritual state of mind was important.  The fishermen had a Bible on board, which they read each day, and they prayed daily.

From time to time they would spy ships, though the passing vessels apparently didn’t see them.  But just the fact that they saw the ships helped keep their hopes up. According to Vidaña, “… every eight days we saw ships, sometimes we went a month without seeing a ship, but we always saw ships and that’s why we never lost hope. … they didn’t rescue us but … another that passes is going to rescue us….”

 

The trio was actually sleeping when the Kuskooss located their boat and undertook the rescue operation. Vidaña reported that, “We didn’t see it because we were sleeping, then we heard the noise of the motor and we rose up and saw it, it was coming for us, coming to rescue us.  After nine months I was rescued, thanks to God Almighty.”

Vidaña said that the experience had caused him to more highly value “the little that I have,” and that he plans to work hard in the future (presumably to make up for lost time).

 

So does he plan to continue fishing?

“Of course I’m going to keep fishing, I like to fish, it doesn’t scare me. Why would I be afraid to fish if I’m from a fishing area, what can I do? To fish and fish, that’s all, because that’s how I support my family.”

Vidaña, Ordoñez and Rendon remain as guests aboard the Kuskooss, which is scheduled to make landfall on one of the Marshall Islands the 21st or 22nd of August.  The Mexican foreign ministry is making arrangements to get the Mexicans back to Mexico.

 

Welcome back.

 

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Allan Wall, a MexiData.info columnist, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.  He currently resides in Mexico, where he has lived since 1991. He can be reached via e-mail at allan39@prodigy.net.mx.