“I thought I was going to die from the cold,” he told his rescuers David Soaresa Brazilian fisherman who lost contact with his boat on the day of ChristmasShe swam for several hours and then clung to a buoy for two days. The man known in his small town as Leanderstood up alone Sao Joao da Barrain the state of Rio de Janeiro, when he fell off his boat due to rough seas and was at the mercy of the waves. Meanwhile, when the family did not see him return that evening, they warned other fishermen in the area and the Navy. “I started fearing the worst,” the father said João Batista Soares to the Brazilian magazine G1 – O Globo. It didn’t take long for Leander’s ship to be found. But he wasn’t there. “The first 10 minutes were worse,” said the fisherman. «I really wanted to reach the boat, but it was impossible. The power of the water was too great. There was no way to swim against the tide.”
The arrival at the buoy and the rescue
At this point, Soares decided to go with the flow. After this four hours and eight kilometers he managed to reach a high buoy to hold on to. By now he had thrown his clothes into the waves and pinned him down as he swam. “It was a heavy sea, a strong wind. I chose to get carried away to conserve energy and move faster. In four hours I reached the buoys of Porto Açu,” he told G1. On the second day at dawn, hanging on the buoy, the other fishermen managed to find him. “I often thought I would die before help came.” His colleagues found him cold and dehydratedbut in good condition. Crying with emotion, they helped him into the boat and brought him home yesterday. Leandro has assured that he will return to fishing today, but with a different mindset. “I had the opportunity to do it see life with new eyes and become a better person,” he said after the rescue.
Read more about Open
Also read: