What started out as a whale-watching adventure in eastern Russia turned into tragedy when 46-year-old Mikhail Pichugin got stuck at sea with his 49-year-old brother and his brother's teen son.
Only Mikhail survived. When he was found, the dead bodies had been wrapped and were on the raft with him. Mikhail himself had lost half his weight when he was rescued, weighing only 110 pounds.
Here's video of the encounter:
The Sea of Okhotsk is a body of water north of Japan that is separated from the Bering Sea by the Kamchatka Peninsula. It is known for its stormy weather and is the coldest sea in East Asia. It's also more than twice the size of Texas.
Mikhail and his relatives started off on a relatively short trip to the Shantar Islands, which is near the north-western coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. Here's a video showing the spectacular whale watching on the islands:
Mikhail's boat motor died, however, stranding the men at the mercy of the currents with only 5 gallons of water.
When they did not return on August 9, rescue efforts were made for a month, with no luck.
Then, 10 weeks later, a fishing vessel found them on the opposite side of the sea. Somehow, Mikhail had survived.
From CNN:
'After some time, contact with them was lost, their location remained unknown,' a spokesperson for Russia's far eastern transport prosecutor's office, Elena Krasnoyarova, said.
'On October 14, around 22:00 the catamaran was spotted by a fishing boat passing in the Sea of Okhotsk near the Ust-Khayryuzovo settlement in the Kamchatka region,' she added.
Prosecutors said they are still working to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and investigating charges of water traffic safety violations, resulting in the death of two or more people through negligence.
The rescued man's wife told Russian state media that his weight could have played a role in his survival, given he weighed about 220lbs (100 kg). She told RIA that Pichugin and his late brother and nephew had enough food to last for about two weeks.
Mikhail is being taken to the town of Magadan for medical treatment.
He is 'in serious condition, emaciated, but conscious,' the director of the fishing company that stumbled upon the adrift boat told [Russian outlet] RIA.
When he was rescued, Mikhail reportedly said, "I have no strength left."
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