Despite the successful rescue operation, a castaway on board suffered a tragic fate. Now he faces another charge.
Ust-Chairyuzovo – It’s every boat owner’s horror: getting stranded in the middle of the open sea for unforeseeable reasons. Enduring in wind and weather without enough food and without the prospect of help pushes even the most experienced sailors to their limits. This has now happened to a 46-year-old Russian.
He is said to have set sail with his brother (49) and his nephew (15) weeks ago. However, he was the only survivor and was rescued on October 14th. His relatives could only be found dead, like that German Press Agency (dpa) the Russian state news agency Tass quoted.
Boat drifts on the Pacific for months: only one man is rescued
For more than two months, the man drifted in the northwest Pacific in the Sea of Okhotsk near the Kamchatka Peninsula. A fisherman discovered the man’s catamaran-like boat purely by chance. Just like Tom Hanks in the film “Castaway,” the man was said to be emaciated and with a long beard.
Videos of the rescue can be seen on the Russian prosecutor’s Telegram channel. It says that the men set out on August 9th in the “Baikat 470”, a four meter long mini-boat for a maximum of six people. They are said to have gone out to the ocean to watch whales. The videos show that not even a roof could protect the sailors from the harsh weather conditions on the Pacific.
At some point, communication was lost and the location could no longer be located. Exactly a year ago, a shipwrecked man was discovered and rescued on an island in the Pacific.
Russian faces charges after lost boat trip
The man received immediate medical attention after being rescued. In addition to physical and mental consequences, the castaways may also face legal consequences. The Russian public prosecutor’s office said they are currently investigating the circumstances of the accident. If it turns out that the 46-year-old has violated the safety regulations for traffic and the operation of watercraft, charges will be brought against him. He could have negligently caused the death of at least two people.
It is still unclear how his brother and nephew died and how long the two bodies with the rescued 46-year-old were lifeless on board. Also why the boat strayed so far from its intended destination. The port targeted on the island of Sakhalin is around 1,000 kilometers from where the boat was found.
The Northwest Pacific is affected by typhoons at this time of year, particularly in southern areas around the Philippines. Wind speeds of more than 300 km/h are sometimes reached, which are stronger at sea and usually weaken over land. It is not yet known whether the accident is connected to typhoon “Shanshan,” which hit nearby Japan in August and caused extreme weather and flooding. (diase)
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