The Russian whale watcher who miraculously survived 67 days drifting at sea in an inflatable boat described the harrowing details of how his brother and nephew died weeks before he was finally rescued.
Mikhail Pichugin, 45, is recovering in a hospital in the city of Magadan in Russia’s far-east after he was spotted by a fishing trawler and pulled from the icy waters of the Sea of Okhotsk.
On board the disabled catamaran, the lone survivor had strapped the corpses of his elder brother, Sergey Pichugin, 49, and his son Ilya, 15, so they would not go overboard.
The teenager “died of starvation” after hardly eating anything, according to Mash media outlet, citing Pichugin’s account of the ordeal to his rescuers.
After Ilya died, his devastated father “went crazy,” according to the outlet.
“Sergei was crying, screaming and jumping into the water,” Pichugin reportedly recalled.
He pulled his brother out of the frigid ocean, warmed him and tried to feed him but he refused to eat. He died ten days later.
The trio was headed home from a multi-day August trip to the remote Shantar Islands, a renowned feeding ground for whales, back to the city of Okha on the island of Sakhalin when the vessel’s engines malfunctioned.
They initially tried to paddle themselves using an oar over the open ocean, but the oar broke, Pichugin said. His brother and nephew died either on Aug. 18 and 28 or Sept. 18 and 28 — but the exact date is unclear.
Russian officials desperately searched for the three for a month before calling off the efforts. The vessel drifted at least 625 miles and was found about 14 miles off the village of Ust-Khairyuzovo, on the Kamchatka peninsula.
Pichugin’s ability to survive has been attributed to his being overweight, according to reports. In the more than two months on the dinghy, he had lost more than 100 pounds, according to reports.
He kept himself alive by drinking rainwater he collected and by wrapping himself up inside of a thick camel wool sleeping bag at night for warmth.
“You get under it, you fidget a little, you get warm,” he said. “I just didn’t have a choice.”
He said the only thing that kept him going was thinking of his mother and daughter waiting for him at home. Pichugin also thinks that God was looking out for him.
“It was the Angel ship that saved me,” he remarked, referencing the fishing trawler’s name.
Pichugin said from his hospital bed that he just wants to get back home “to bury my brother and nephew.”
However, he could face up to seven years in jail for breaking Russian maritime safety laws, since his vessel is not permitted to travel beyond two nautical miles from shore.