He was collecting rainwater and protecting himself under a sleeping bag made of camel hair: Mikhail Pichugin, who was found alive after 66 days on an inflatable boat in Russia's far east, said on Wednesday his agony from his hospital bed.
Mikhail Pichugin (46 years old) was found on Monday by a fishing vessel called “Angel” in the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk near the Kamchatka Peninsula, about two months after he took a boat trip with his brother and 15 children. – His nephew who died.
Mr. Pechugin, who was hospitalized in the city of Magadan, was able to speak briefly to reporters on Wednesday from his hospital room.
He was pale, but smiling, and faintly recounted some details of his daily life in a houseboat.
“How could it be otherwise?” Mikhail Pichugin said in a video clip broadcast on Russian television.
“I was collecting rainwater” to survive, he explains, praising the camel hair sleeping bag that helped him keep warm.
He added: “The weather is humid (…), but we can get under it, move a little, and become a little warmer,” claiming that he had “no choice” but to survive: “My mother is at home.” Go home, my daughter…
The deputy head of the Magadan regional government, Tatiana Savchenko, described the survivor's condition as “satisfactory” and told the press that local authorities would finance Mr. Pechugin's return to his homeland.
Mikhail Pichugin worked as a driver on Sakhalin Island and invited his brother and nephew to visit him, according to the newspaper. Komsomolskaya Pravdaciting family members.
The survivor's wife, Ekaterina, commented to the same media on Tuesday, saying: “It's a kind of miracle,” believing that her husband's extra weight could have saved him.
“He weighed about 100 kilograms,” she said, while Russian television reported that the man now weighed 50 kilograms.
The three unfortunate people set sail on August 9 in a small inflatable boat. The boat was only found on October 14 in the Sea of Okhotsk, about 1,000 kilometers from their starting point.
An investigation has been opened into a violation of maritime transport rules that led to the reckless death of two people.
