A Kiribati policeman claims he was after spending 15 weeks lost at sea. On May 28, Toakai Teitoi, 41, was traveling home from the capital of Tarawa with his brother-in-law in a 15-foot wooden fishing boat for what should have been a two-hour trip. They stopped to fish along the way and ended up falling asleep. When they awoke, they were unable to identify land and quickly ran out of fuel. Though they erected a sun shelter and were able to catch plenty of fish to eat, they had little water. Teitoi’s brother-in-law succumbed to dehydration five weeks later. Although a storm the following day allowed Tetoi to fill two five-gallon containers, he continued to drift for another 10 weeks. He credits the aid of a shark, who nudged the raft while he was sleeping just as a fishing trawler was passing. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. I could just make out the crew who were looking at me through binoculars … If that shark hadn’t nudged me awake the crew of the boat might have thought I wasn’t in trouble and might have carried on sailing past me.” Teitoi has sworn off boats and will travel home by plane from Majuro in the Marshall Islands, where he has been treated for dehydration.
Via