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Endurance In Extremity (Tales Of Stubborn Survival Or Persistence)

Lost in the jungle for 4 weeks, the official search had been abandoned.

Two young indigenous boys rescued after almost four weeks lost in Brazil's Amazon rainforest have been found and taken to hospital.

Glauco and Gleison Ferreira, eight and six, got lost trying to catch small birds in the jungle near Manicoré, Amazonas state, on 18 February.
A local tree cutter found them by chance on Tuesday.
They are expected to make a full recovery after being treated in hospital for malnourishment.
After the boys disappeared, hundreds of residents spent weeks looking for them.
But lost during the rainy season of the Amazon - a time which makes walking and moving in the jungle even more difficult than usual - they were nowhere to be found.

Emergency services decided to call off the search on 24 February, but locals continued to search for the boys, according to local media outlet Amazônia Real.
Almost four weeks later, the boys were found by a man cutting wood 6 km (3.7 miles) from the village of Palmeira in the Lago Capanã protected land reserve where the boys live with their parents, Amazônia Real adds.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-60789542
 
Pizzas unit of measurement as well so choice of toppings, er I mean Threads.

A man who was trapped 15 feet underground for two days in a storm pipe the width of a large pizza was rescued in an effort that lasted hours and involved at least 50 firefighters, police officers and rescue personnel.

Officials freed the man from the 16-inch (41cm) diameter pipe at about 9.30pm on Sunday in Antioch, north-east of San Francisco, said Contra Costa County Fire Protection District spokesperson Steve Hill.

“When we finally got him out of the ground, he was beyond exuberant. He was beyond happy to be above ground,” Hill said.
The man, in his mid-30s, was not injured but showed signs of dehydration and was taken to a hospital to be evaluated, Hill said.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40833935.html
 
Mushroom picker miraculously pulled out alive 4 days after falling into 24ft hole

Sergei Khmelevsky, 37, injured his leg when he fell into a giant disused underground oil store in eastern Russia.

The mushroom picker had no food but remarkably survived by drinking water from a puddle as he shouted and banged for help.

His mobile phone had no signal but he used its torch to guide rescuers who found him in the dark hole near the village of Knevichi in Primorsky region.
Rescuers lowered a strap with a makeshift harness and pulled him out.

A search involving volunteers had been underway for four days, since he went missing, but rescuers had not been sure about his location.

Volunteer searchers said the man, from Ussuriysk, was deaf and could not hear if anyone was in the vicinity.

He had shouted and banged to alert potential saviours, they said.
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Video at link.
 

Fisherman survives by floating in freezer for 11 days after boat began to sink​

Romualdo Macedo Rodrigues, 44, was travelling in a 23ft-long wooden boat from Oiapoque, in Amapa state, northern Brazil at the end of July.

He was aiming to get to Ilet la Mere, an island off the coast of French Guiana, to spend a few days fishing.

But disaster struck and his boat began to fill with water and start sinking.

Romualdo does not know how to swim, so panicked and climbed into a freezer he had on board.

He said he had no food or water and lost more than 10lbs during his ordeal.
Romualdo told local media: ‘What troubled me most was the thirst.

‘I thought I was going to be attacked by sharks because there are lots of curious fish on the high seas.’

He was eventually spotted 11 days later by the crew of another boat, who pulled him from the sea off the coast of Suriname, which borders French Guiana.

As soon as he returned to shore Romualdo was given first aid – but was then arrested by police in Suriname for not having the right documents.

He was reported to have spent 16 days in custody before finally flying home to Belem in Para state, Brazil.
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Video at link.

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Man had arm bitten off in alligator attack before getting lost in wilderness for 3 days

Eric Merda was trying to swim across a lake when he was attacked by the alligator, which made off with his arm. Despite spending the next three days lost in the woods, Eric lived to tell the tale

Out of hospital, and adjusting to life with one arm, he told CBS Miami that on July 17 this year he had decided to swim across the lake instead of walking around it.
He said: "I looked over and there's a gator on my right-hand side, so I went to swim, and she got my forearm, so I grabbed her like this, she was trying to roll, but she snapped her head, so my arm went backwards... completely.

"She dragged me under, three times. She's already got my arm, so when we came up the third time, she finally did a death roll and took off with my arm."

With only one arm, he managed to get himself out of the lake, but was unsure where he was and spent the next three days lost in the woods.

He said he felt like he was walking in circles at first so started following "the sun and power lines, stuff like that".
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In 1993, French engineer Emile Leray was driving through a remote part of the Moroccan desert, when his Citroën 2CV hit a rock, wrecking the chassis.
Knowing he was 10s of kilometres from the nearest settlement and choosing not to set off on foot, he accomplished the remarkable feat of dismantling the car and using the engine, two wheels, part of the chassis and assorted bits and bobs to build a viable motorbike.
12 days after the initial crash and with his food and water exhausted, he rode his impromptu bike into a town - and was fined €450 by the local authorities because the number plate was for a 4-wheeled vehicle rather than two!

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https://www.techeblog.com/emile-leray-citroen-2cv-car-turned-motorcycle-morocco-desert/
 
Reading about the Long Range Desert Group during WW2, there is an astonishing story of 3 of the group who lost their vehicle during the fighting. They decided to walk back to their depot 250 miles away, despite the fact that one of them had been shot through the throat. Imagine walking through a desert with little food and water for that distance. One made it most of the way back and was rescued, the other two managed it including the wounded bloke (although he sadly died a couple of days later). Don't make too many like that anymore. Astonishing.
 
PeteS said:
Reading about the Long Range Desert Group during WW2, there is an astonishing story of 3 of the group who lost their vehicle during the fighting. They decided to walk back to their depot 250 miles away, despite the fact that one of them had been shot through the throat. Imagine walking through a desert with little food and water for that distance. One made it most of the way back and was rescued, the other two managed it including the wounded bloke (although he sadly died a couple of days later). Don't make too many like that anymore. Astonishing.
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This is a good book:
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/MR-Book-Reviews/May-2017/Book-Review-038/
 
British kayaker rescued clinging to buoy in Channel

A British man has been rescued by a Dutch fishing boat in the Channel after his kayak capsized and he was left holding on to a buoy for days.

The captain, Teunis de Boer, said he had by chance seen the kayaker waving frantically as his boat Madeleine sailed past.

"He was clearly in distress," the captain told Dutch media.

After the man was given water and a chocolate bar, he was airlifted to hospital by French authorities.
The boat captain said he was checking they were not steering too close to the Colbart Nord buoy when he suddenly saw something moving around on it. "I picked up the binoculars and saw a young man just in his swimming trunks waving at us like a madman," he told De Telegraaf website.

They threw the Briton lifebuoys and hauled him on board. "He was covered in bruises and explained that he'd stayed alive by scraping mussels off the buoy and eating little crabs and seaweed," Mr De Boer told public broadcaster NOS. He was dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia, so the crew wrapped him in blankets.

What is less clear is how long he had survived clinging to the buoy. The fishing boat captain said the man had told them he had left Dover in his kayak on 15 October, 12 days before he was picked up.

In a statement, the French maritime prefect for the Channel and North Sea said, however, that he had left Dover around 48 hours earlier.
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Just heard this on the radio. They said it was an inflatable kayak and he was only wearing swimming trunks.

Urk fisherman saves man after days from a buoy in The Channel: 'A miracle'

Dutch fishermen rescued a man trapped on a buoy in the Pas-de-Calais this morning. He told captain Teunis de Boer that his kayak had capsized. "He said he left Dover on October 15. He was exhausted and severely hypothermic."

When exactly it went wrong with the kayaker is unclear. De Boer, who fishes for mullet, tub gurnard and squid on the French ship Madeleine, told the NOS that the Englishman probably spent "at least days" on the buoy.

"It was about eleven o'clock, we were sailing through the Channel and passed a buoy that marks a sand bank. As we were getting closer, I was filling in my electronic logbook, when I suddenly saw something moving on that buoy. I grabbed my binoculars and saw someone in swimming trunks on the buoy, swaying back and forth like crazy."

Lived off mussels and seaweed

De Boer, from Urk, couldn’t believe his eyes. "I then gave an audible signal to show that I had seen him. The current was quite strong, so then we sailed to it bow first. When we were about ten metres from the buoy, we threw life buoys into the water. He got hold of one."

The exhausted Briton was then hoisted on board. "He said he had wanted to cross the channel and had capsized. He was covered in bruises and said he had kept himself alive by scraping mussels from the buoy and eating crabs and seaweed."

"We got him dry and warmed him up in the galley. He drank a few litres of water in no time, he hadn’t slept for days, his eyes were deep in their sockets."

The Madeleine, with three Dutch and two Frenchmen on board, called the French coastguard. "They sent a helicopter, which arrived within ten minutes." The coast guard dropped a doctor off on the Madeleine and later also transferred the exhausted adventurer to hospital.

"We’re grateful we saw him," says De Boer, still impressed. "We see it as a miracle. We could just as well have passed him and he wouldn’t have had much longer."

https://nos.nl/artikel/2449978-urker-visser-redt-man-na-dagen-van-boei-in-het-kanaal-een-wonder
 
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He was lucky that no sharks were about.

A passenger who went missing from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico has been rescued after more than 15 hours in the sea, the US Coast Guard has said.

The 28-year-old man had been at a bar on the Carnival Valor ship with his sister on Wednesday night but did not return after leaving to use the toilet.

Several rescue crews scoured the area and the man was finally spotted on Thursday evening, some 20 miles (30km) off the coast of Louisiana.
He is said to be in stable condition.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63766365
 
ramonmercado said:
He was lucky that no sharks were about.

A passenger who went missing from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico has been rescued after more than 15 hours in the sea, the US Coast Guard has said.

The 28-year-old man had been at a bar on the Carnival Valor ship with his sister on Wednesday night but did not return after leaving to use the toilet.

Several rescue crews scoured the area and the man was finally spotted on Thursday evening, some 20 miles (30km) off the coast of Louisiana.
He is said to be in stable condition.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63766365
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What an extraordinary story. I wonder if his survival for so long had something to do with him being absolutely steaming, like the baker Charles Joughin who was pissed as a newt when he rode the stern of Titanic down into the sea (thereby being last into the water barely getting his hair wet apparently) and was picked up hours later with no ill effects.
 
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Three people found sitting on ship’s rudder survived an 11-day voyage from Nigeria​

In a photograph distributed by the coastguard on Monday, the migrants are shown perched on the rudder of the oil and chemical tanker Althini II.

The Althini II arrived in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria on Monday after an 11-day voyage from Lagos in Nigeria, according to Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking website.

The migrants were taken into the port and attended to by health services, the coastguard said on Twitter.
The Spanish-owned Canary Islands are a popular gateway for African migrants attempting to reach Europe. Spanish data shows migration by sea to the archipelago jumped 51% in the first five months of the year compared to a year earlier.

Last year, more than 20,000 migrants crossed from the West African coastline to the Canary Islands, according to the Red Cross. More than 1,100 of those people died at sea, the organization said.
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hunck said:

Three people found sitting on ship’s rudder survived an 11-day voyage from Nigeria​

In a photograph distributed by the coastguard on Monday, the migrants are shown perched on the rudder of the oil and chemical tanker Althini II.

The Althini II arrived in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria on Monday after an 11-day voyage from Lagos in Nigeria, according to Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking website.

The migrants were taken into the port and attended to by health services, the coastguard said on Twitter.

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I came here to post this same story. Simply astounding that they survived against the odds. The human will to survive can be strong when it needs to be.
 
A man has miraculously survived 20 hours at sea in the Torres Strait, in what Australian police have called a Christmas miracle.

The 31-year-old was found clinging to a remnant of debris from his dinghy after it capsized when a mammoth wave hit between Getullia Island and Sue Island in the Torres Strait.

Queensland police senior sergeant Anthony Moynihan told ABC news that the man was not carrying safety equipment when he set off on his journey alone and so it was astonishing he survived.

He said: “It’s incredible. It’s one in a million. To be floating in that water and knowing the creatures that are in there and to still be there some 20 hours later – he’s an extremely lucky fella.”

He said the man is in excellent spirits and not suffering from any serious conditions, despite having no safety equipment on board at all, no emergency beacons and no flares.

The man set out alone from Moa Island at about 9:30 am on Tuesday and was heading for Warraber Islet, which is a journey of about 37 miles.

He failed to reach Warraber which is when his family sounded the alarm over his whereabouts.

The search team had to call off their operation that night due to wet weather, leaving the bloke stranded for even longer.

They said: "We weren't able to use any helicopter assets last night because of the poor weather or any other assets like the volunteer marine rescue because of the poor conditions."

Eventually, an overturned dinghy was found at about 10:30 am the next day, with the man eventually spotted a further seven nautical miles away floating on a piece of wood.
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The Sea Shall Not Have them.

When Edison Davis and Augustine Nemus set out to fish from India's southern coast on 27 November, they promised their families they would be home for Christmas.

Then, there was no word from them for weeks. The two men were part of a group of 15 fishermen who set sail in a deep-sea vessel for close to three weeks to fish in the Arabian Sea. The men's families didn't panic at first; they were used to the fishermen spending days at sea.

But when Christmas came and went and the men still hadn't returned home, the families began to fear the worst. The memory of Cyclone Ockhi - a powerful storm that struck India's southern coast in 2017 and killed dozens of fishermen - was fresh in their minds. They wondered if something similar had happened to their family members. But the fishermen returned home on 2 January.

Their boat's engine had suffered a snag and the fishermen ended up marooned on a remote island in British Indian Ocean territory for days, until they were finally rescued by a passing British vessel. With no idea when they were going to be rescued, the fishermen had found innovative ways to survive, including by drinking water from coconuts found on the island.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64249358
 
The man who had his arm bitten off by a gator, I can't understand how he survived walking around for days in that condition..... I'm thinking how did he not bleed out? Unless he cauterized the wound ? But how would he do that with no supplies on him? Even if he had a lighter on him, surely it would be wet and useless.
 
FunkyTT said:
The man who had his arm bitten off by a gator, I can't understand how he survived walking around for days in that condition..... I'm thinking how did he not bleed out? Unless he cauterized the wound ? But how would he do that with no supplies on him? Even if he had a lighter on him, surely it would be wet and useless.
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That occured to me as well. The story doesn’t go into detail..
 
FunkyTT said:
The man who had his arm bitten off by a gator, I can't understand how he survived walking around for days in that condition..... I'm thinking how did he not bleed out? Unless he cauterized the wound ? But how would he do that with no supplies on him? Even if he had a lighter on him, surely it would be wet and useless.
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Arteries have muscular walls and can self-seal to an extent. A primitive tourniquet or even just hand pressure would cut blood loss to negligible levels.

maximus otter
 
24 days adrift living off garlic powder. I hope for their sakes he didn't kiss his rescuers.

BOGOTA, Colombia — The Colombian navy rescued a man from Dominica who says he survived 24 days adrift in the Caribbean on a sailboat by eating ketchup, garlic powder and seasoning cubes.

Elvis Francois, 47, had scrawled the word "help" in English on the boat's hull, which officials said was key to his rescue.

The sailboat was spotted from the air 120 nautical miles northwest of La Guajira peninsula and Francois was taken to the port city of Cartagena by a passing container ship, the Colombian navy said in a statement Wednesday.

Francois told Colombian authorities that his ordeal began in December when currents swept the sailboat out to sea while he was making repairs off the island of St. Martin in the Netherlands Antilles, where he lives.

"I called my friends, they tried to contact me, but I lost the signal. There was nothing else to do but sit and wait," Francois recalled in a video released by the navy.

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/19/1150...ia — The Colombian navy,was key to his rescue.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
In 1993, French engineer Emile Leray was driving through a remote part of the Moroccan desert, when his Citroën 2CV hit a rock, wrecking the chassis.
Knowing he was 10s of kilometres from the nearest settlement and choosing not to set off on foot, he accomplished the remarkable feat of dismantling the car and using the engine, two wheels, part of the chassis and assorted bits and bobs to build a viable motorbike.
12 days after the initial crash and with his food and water exhausted, he rode his impromptu bike into a town - and was fined €450 by the local authorities because the number plate was for a 4-wheeled vehicle rather than two!

View attachment 58874View attachment 58875View attachment 58876


https://www.techeblog.com/emile-leray-citroen-2cv-car-turned-motorcycle-morocco-desert/
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Now that is absolutely brilliant. And probably very lucky that of all modern-ish cars he was in a 2CV, since they are largely bolted together like a big Meccano set. (Erector set for Americans) .

Apart from having a sensible food and water supply he must have also had a reasonably comprehensive tool kit.

I suspect the last working ICE vehicle will be either a 2CV or a Land Rover.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I don't know if this is the appropriate thread for this, but anyway...

Actor Julian Sands went missing in a wilderness area a few days ago and he is still missing.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...actor-hiking-filmography-latest-b2265801.html
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This is so upsetting. It feels like there is not going to be a happy ending; if the worse thing has happened, I hope it happened quickly and there was no lingering, cold and afraid. Adored him in the 80s (and therefore beyond, of course) - A Room With A View and especially Gothic, a film that left me very wibbly wobbly.
 
A 69-year-old fisherman has been rescued after clinging to a plastic bottle in the open sea for more than 30 hours.

The Malaysian fisherman - named as Morris Dulin, 69 - fell into the South China Sea when his boat capsized.

He was rescued 5.5 nautical miles (10.2 kilometres) from where his boat sank off the Malaysian island of Sepanggar.

A statement released by the Royal Malaysian Navy on 26th January said they "carried out a search for a fisherman who was feared missing" in conjunction with local police.

They were assisted in their search by a Scaneagle M601-7 UAS drone, the statement said.

The Navy said that three people had gone into the water when the ship sank but two of the survivors had managed to swim to shore to raise the alarm.
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ramonmercado said:
24 days adrift living off garlic powder. I hope for their sakes he didn't kiss his rescuers.

BOGOTA, Colombia — The Colombian navy rescued a man from Dominica who says he survived 24 days adrift in the Caribbean on a sailboat by eating ketchup, garlic powder and seasoning cubes.

Elvis Francois, 47, had scrawled the word "help" in English on the boat's hull, which officials said was key to his rescue.

The sailboat was spotted from the air 120 nautical miles northwest of La Guajira peninsula and Francois was taken to the port city of Cartagena by a passing container ship, the Colombian navy said in a statement Wednesday.

Francois told Colombian authorities that his ordeal began in December when currents swept the sailboat out to sea while he was making repairs off the island of St. Martin in the Netherlands Antilles, where he lives.

"I called my friends, they tried to contact me, but I lost the signal. There was nothing else to do but sit and wait," Francois recalled in a video released by the navy.

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/19/1150179665/sailor-rescued-caribbean-adrift-survival#:~:text=BOGOTA, Colombia — The Colombian navy,was key to his rescue.
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Heinz are now searching for him to help him buy him a new boat

From Twitter:

We need your help tracking down an amazing man with an amazing story.

‘You may remember Elvis Francois as the brave sailor who survived on nothing but ketchup and spices while adrift at sea for 24 days.

‘Heinz wants to celebrate his safe return home and help him buy a new boat… but we can’t seem to find him.

‘So, we are setting this message adrift into the sea of the internet, because if anyone can help us find him, it is you.

‘If you or anyone you know can help us get in contact with Elvis Francois, please drop us a DM.’
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The appeal comes just a month after his sailboat was spotted from the air 120 nautical miles northwest of La Guajira peninsula.
 
Amazon jungle: Man survives 31 days by eating worms
A Bolivian man has described how he managed to survive for 31 days in the Amazon jungle after he got lost.
Jhonattan Acosta, 30, got separated from his four friends while out hunting in northern Bolivia.
He says he drank rainwater collected in his shoes and ate worms and insects while hiding from jaguars and peccaries, a type of pig-like mammal.
Mr Acosta was finally found by a search party made up of locals and friends a month after he had gone missing.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-64811309
 
Wasn't there a film about a similar event?

A California couple is suing a snorkeling company in Maui after their tour group left them high and dry — or in this case, behind and wet.

The experienced snorkelers were on their honeymoon when they booked a day trip with Sail Maui from Lahaina to Lanai. While they were snorkeling off the coast of Lanai, however, the waters got choppy and their tour group's catamaran decided it was time to leave — without them. The couple swam towards their group, trying to catch up to the catamaran, but realized the tour company had no idea they were missing as it left them behind — about a quarter to half a mile away from the shore, according to Hawaii News Now.

"It was basically a traumatizing event where they thought they were going to die and they thought their spouse was going to die," he [Atty. Jared Washkowitz] said. …
The lawsuit alleges that the crew didn't do a proper head count and didn't even know Webster and Burckle were missing until the couple called the tour company from Lanai. ...
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Fortunately, the stranded couple was able to swim for about 20 minutes until they reached a remote part of Lanai's shoreline. After a while, they were spotted by some residents who were driving by, and later that evening they caught a ferry back to Lahaina, reports Hawaii News Now. ...

https://boingboing.net/2023/03/02/c...snorkeling-tour-group-forgets-about-them.html
 
Cochise said:
Now that is absolutely brilliant. And probably very lucky that of all modern-ish cars he was in a 2CV, since they are largely bolted together like a big Meccano set. (Erector set for Americans) .

Apart from having a sensible food and water supply he must have also had a reasonably comprehensive tool kit.

I suspect the last working ICE vehicle will be either a 2CV or a Land Rover.
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I may be wrong about. A 2CV only has 2 sizes of nuts and/or bolts and 2 sizes of screws.
 
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