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A fisherman who spent 95 days lost at sea has opened up about the grim reality of what he had to do to stay alive.
Máximo Napa Castro planned his two-week fishing trip after setting off from the coastal town of Marcona in Peru on 7 December, 2024.
However, after stormy weather threw his boat off course, the 61-year-old ended up in the Pacific Ocean.
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"Every day is anguish for the whole family… We never thought we would go through this situation, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, we will not lose hope, Dad, of finding you," his daughter wrote on Facebook earlier this month.
Eventually, Castro was found 680 miles off the coast on 11 March, 2025.
The fisherman was 'heavily dehydrated and in a critical condition' before he was sent to the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes Hospital in Paita to recover.
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Castro told CNN: “I said I didn’t want to die for my mother. I have a granddaughter who is a few months old. I held on for her. Every day, I thought of my mother.”
He had only packed two weeks worth of food on the trip, and was forced to collect rainwater on the boat to survive.
According to Reuters, Castro said he 'ate roaches, birds, the last thing I ate was turtles'.
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His mother, Elena Castro, told TV Peru: "I told the Lord, whether he's alive or dead, just bring him back to me, even if it's just to see him.
"But my daughters never lost faith. They kept telling me: 'Mom, he'll come back, he'll come back'."
Napa's daughter Inés Napa Torres thanked the Ecuadorian fishermen who saved her father's life.
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"Thank you, Ecuadorian brothers, for rescuing my dad Gatón, God bless you," she wrote in a post to Facebook.
"It is a miracle that my father has been found," she added to RPP Radio. "We, as a family, never gave up hope of finding him."
On looking forward to getting back to his normal life, Castro told RPP: “Today I ate rice with chicken and beans. I wanted to eat five plates, but I couldn't, so I had to eat just one.
“My stomach still needs to settle. My mom is going to make me carapulcra, rice with chicken, and sopa seca.
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“All I want is to hug my mom. [The doctors] have told me I'm fine; I've always eaten well,” he added.
