Miracle at sea: Two fishermen survived a week on a cooler in the Pacific Ocean
The boat of two Mexican fishermen sank within minutes, leaving them drifting in the Pacific Ocean without food or water. They improvised a raft from a cooler and empty fuel tanks and were located after signaling a rescue plane by waving a piece of cloth. After more than 100 hours of survival, one of them declared he is retiring from fishing.
An extraordinary drama at sea ended in a successful rescue after two Mexican fishermen survived in the Pacific Ocean for nearly a week equipped with only a cooler. 53-year-old Daniel Guerrero Martinez and 52-year-old Jose Luis Portillo Villegas were found by the Mexican Navy about 240 kilometers off the coast of the state of Chiapas, suffering from severe dehydration and sunburn. The incident began on August 14 in the early morning, when their fishing boat, the "Camaronera", capsized and sank in less than five minutes after being hit by a strong wave and fierce winds.
Drifting far from land, the two were forced to improvise a raft from the cooler and empty fuel tanks to stay afloat. According to a report on People.com, they survived for more than five days—over 100 consecutive hours—without food or fresh water. Throughout the ordeal, they desperately hoped for rain, but the clouds never arrived.
The rescue operation was launched after the fishing cooperative to which they belonged alerted authorities to the loss of contact. The Mexican Navy (Semar) initiated a large-scale search using the "Trinomio" method, which coordinates a ship, a fast patrol boat, and an aircraft.
Salvation arrived when the men managed to attract the attention of a Navy patrol plane by waving a piece of cloth. In footage released by the Navy, the two are seen clinging to the blue cooler just moments before a team from the patrol ship rescued them. Immediately after, the fishermen were airlifted to the port of Puerto Chiapas, where they received medical treatment before reuniting with their families and being transferred to a hospital for further care.
In an interview with the BBC, Guerrero described the harrowing experience, admitting he thought he would never see his family again. He added a surprising revelation: this was the third time in his life he had survived a shipwreck, and he declared firmly that he is now retiring from fishing for good.
