A whale-watcher who was rescued after 67 days adrift in an inflatable dinghy in storm-tossed seas off Russia’s Far East has told of his harrowing ordeal of survival – and how two family members died on the tragic voyage.
Mikhail Pichugin, 45, is recovering in a hospital in the city of Magadan following his miraculous rescue from the Sea of Okhotsk more than two months after he first set sail.
Haggard, weak and sporting a bushy beard, he was eventually picked up by a fishing trawler – coincidentally named ‘Angel’ – who spotted a fluorescent orange life jacket he’d managed to tie to the side of his vessel to attract attention.
In his craft, rescuers discovered two corpses that had been painstakingly wrapped up and bound to prevent them from falling into the sea.
Mikhail revealed that his nephew Ilya, 15, succumbed to starvation and the boy’s deeply distressed father Sergei, 49, died ten days later having gone delirious amid the loss of his son.
The lone whale-watcher’s survival was described by experts yesterday as being ‘beyond comprehension’ – but Mikhail’s ex-wife put it down to the simple fact that he was fat.
While the slim 15-year-old Ilya perished in a matter of weeks, Mikhail lost some 50kg over the course of nine-and-a-half weeks on the dinghy but was still able to signal for help and clamber aboard the rescue ship.
Mikhail Pichugin, 45, is recovering in hospital in the Russian city Magadan after his ordeal in the Sea of Okhotsk, days after his miraculous rescue more than two months after he first set sail
Mikhail is seen before and after spending 67 days adrift at sea
The haggard and gaunt-looking man, who authorities said had lost 50 kilograms in body weight, was seen wrapped in blankets and a life vest aboard the minuscule vessel
The miraculous moment of the rescue of whale-watcher Mikhail Pichugin, 45, who was drifting in the open sea for 67 days
Mikhail Pichugin, 45, who was miraculously rescued after 67 days of drifting in the open sea, is delivered to Magadan hospital
Mikhail’s brother Sergei and nephew Ilya died on the boat
Mikhail explained how he and his family members had set out on a whale-watching trip in early August and were returning from the remote Shantar Islands when disaster struck.
Their Baykat 470 M catamaran-type inflatable lost use of its Honda engine some 37 miles from shore.
They attempted to row the rest of the distance but their oar broke, leaving them at the mercy of the Sea of Okhotsk.
Experts estimate the helpless vessel drifted at least 625 miles over the course of more than two months prior to the rescue, during which time Mikhail’s brother and teenage nephew passed away.
Mikhail was ultimately found some 14 miles off the village of Ust-Khairyuzovo, on the Kamchatka peninsula.
Ilya ‘had hardly eaten, he died of starvation,’ reported Mash media outlet, citing Mikhail’s account to his rescuers.
‘After that his father went crazy – Sergei was crying, screaming and jumping into the water.
‘Mikhail pulled him out of the water, warmed him up, tried to feed him, but he refused to do so, and after 10 days he also died.’
Mikhail tied the bodies of his relatives to the boat so they would not be tossed overboard.
He said the only thing that helped him survive was the thought that his mother and daughter were waiting for him at home, he said.
In interviews from his bed in Russia’s Magadan hospital, Mikhail said he was now ready ‘to be discharged… and get home to bury my brother and nephew’.
When reporters asked how he endured the ordeal, Mikhail replied: ‘With God’s help. How else, if it was the Angel ship that saved me.’
He said Ilya and Sergei had died from starvation and ‘exhaustion’ on the 18th and 28th of the month, but did not specify whether he meant August or September.
Mikhail said Ilya and Sergei had died starvation and ‘exhaustion’
Mikhail explained how he and his family members had set out on a whale-watching trip in early August and were returning from the remote Shantar Islands when disaster struck
Mikhail, 45, with his family including ex-wife Ekaterina, 38.
Mikhail is seen calling for help as the fishing boat that rescued him approaches
Two corpses lay alongside him – that of his elder brother Sergey Pichugin, 49, and his 15-year-old nephew Ilya
Mikhail Pichugin, 45, who was miraculously rescued after 67 days of drifting in the open sea, is carried off the fishing trawler that rescued him in a stretcher
Mikhail explained how he survived by drinking rainwater which he managed to collect aboard the dinghy.
He also lauded his camel wool sleeping bag which he said got him through dozens of cold and wet nights.
‘I had a special winter outfit but my feet were wet. I also had a ”Mongol” sleeping bag with camel hair.
‘It’s kind of wet, it doesn’t dry out. But you get under it, you fidget a little, you get warm… I just didn’t have a choice.’
He did not however comment on a key factor in his survival – his weight.
Ex-wife Ekaterina Aksenova, with whom Mikhail shares a daughter, said her former husband weighed around 100kg when he set off on the trip.
He had lost half his body weight by the time of his rescue, suggesting his ample energy reserves had kept him alive when his family members perished.
‘When they said Misha [Mikhail] was alive, I thought we were waiting for a miracle, and it happened,’ 38-year-old Ekaterina told KP-Irkutsk.
Mikhail Pichugin, 45, who was miraculously rescued after 67 days of drifting in the open sea, is hauled off the fishing boat into Magadan port and rushed to hospital
The fisherman may face the wrath of Russian prosecutors and a potential jail sentence of up to seven years despite his miraculous tale of survival
Mikhail Pichugin, 45
In interviews from his bed in Russia’s Magadan hospital, Mikhail said he was now ready ‘to be discharged… and get home to bury my brother and nephew’
Local experts are astonished at his tale of survival.
Dmitry Lisitsyn, head of Sakhalin Environment Watch, said: ‘There are two real miracles here.⠀
‘The first is that such a small, uncontrolled boat was not capsized in the stormy autumn Sea of Okhotsk after more than two months of drifting.
‘I can’t wrap my head around how this is possible.
‘The boat certainly went through several strong storms and remained afloat – this is something incredible. The second is that someone on this boat survived.
‘The fact that two people died – a father and son – is very sad, but not surprising. But how the third person could survive in the icy, stormy sea for more than two months is simply beyond comprehension.
‘I cannot understand how he managed to survive.’
After he recovers, Mikhail may face the wrath of Russian prosecutors and a potential jail sentence of up to seven years despite his miraculous tale of survival.
His boat is deemed unsuitable in Russian law for venturing more than two nautical miles from the shore, and a criminal case has been opened into a potential violation of maritime safety laws.
The Russian Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor’s Office said: ‘The vessel was found in the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk off the village of Ust-Khayruzovo in the Kamchatka region.
‘Two people died, one survived, he is receiving medical assistance,’ the office said, before confirming a criminal case had been initiated, reported TASS.
However, local officials seem keener to help Mikhail and have said they intend to pay for tickets for him to return home to the Buryatia region in Siberia where his mother and daughter are based.
Locals in Magadan on Russia’s Pacific coast also flocked to the hospital to offer warm clothes and gifts to the heroic survivor.
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