Shocking footage has emerged showing the moment a man was discovered after falling off his boat on Christmas Day.
Amazingly, the fisherman, named David Soares, managed to survive at sea for two whole days by hanging on to a buoy.
And there I was thinking I had a dicey Christmas.
The 43-year-old was ruled as missing after his boat was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil.
Speaking to Brazilian news portal G1, Soares – who is known as ‘Leandro’ by his local fishing community – opened up about the unbelievable experience.
It all started on Sunday (25 December) when he decided to do a spot of work alone at Atafona beach, only to fall off his vessel.
“For me, the first 10 minutes were the most difficult because I wanted to get to the vessel at all costs,” he explained.
You can only imagine the panic.
After noticing he was missing, his family and friends starting looking for him while calling in the Navy to help with the rescue mission.
Eventually his colleagues came across his boat, but their relief soon turned to concern after noticing it was empty.
Although most would lose it in this situation (myself included), Soares tried his best to stay calm.
The fisherman’s plan paid off – around eight kilometres from where the boat was, he came across a signal buoy.
But getting there was no mean feat. “There was swell, wind,” he continued.
Soares managed to keep himself going despite the circumstances, just waiting in the hope that someone would arrive.
On the second day, his hopes came true after he was spotted by another fisherman.
“Many times I thought I was going to die of cold until help arrived,” he said.
After being seen to by medical staff for dehydration, Soares has amazingly returned to fishing – clearly that brush with death wasn’t enough to keep him from fulfilling his duties.
And he’s learned an important lesson along the way, saying: “I had the second opportunity to face life with different eyes and to be a better man.”
