After 67 days of drifting, a Russian was rescued, but his brother and nephew are dead

In this photo from a video released on October 15 by the press service of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Russian rescuers carry Mikhail Pichugin to the shore in an ambulance after he was rescued by a fishing vessel after 67 days adrift in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk near the village of Ust-Khairuzovo in Kamchatka in the Far East of Russia. (AP)

MOSCOW, Oct. 16 (AP): A Russian man was rescued in the rough Sea of ​​Okhotsk after surviving for more than two months in a tiny inflatable boat that lost its engine, but his brother and nephew died, authorities said Tuesday. Prosecutors in Russia’s Far East said the man was rescued on Monday by a fishing vessel off the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The survivor’s name was not released, but Russian news reports identified him as 46-year-old Mikhail Pichugin, who set out on a journey to watch whales in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in early August with his 49-year-old brother and 15-year-old brother. -year-old nephew. Their bodies were reportedly found on the boat when the fishing vessel Angel rescued Pichugin.

Media reports say that in early August, the three men traveled to the Shantar Islands off the northwestern shore of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. They disappeared on August 9 after setting out for the island of Sakhalin from Cape Perov in the Khabarovsk region. A rescue operation was launched but they could not be located. Russian media reported that the three had a small ration and about 20 liters (5.2 gallons) of water when their engine failed and they found themselves adrift.

According to news reports, Pichugin weighed about 50 kilograms (110 pounds) when he was found and had lost half his body weight. When the crew of a fishing vessel spotted a tiny pontoon on radar, they initially thought it was a buoy or a piece of scrap metal, but to be sure, they turned on a searchlight and were shocked to see Pichugin.

He did not immediately tell how he managed to survive in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the coldest sea in East Asia and famous for its storms, and how his brother and nephew died. According to press reports, the crew of the ship that rescued Pichugin found their bodies tied to the boat to prevent them from being washed out to sea.

When Pichugin was rescued, his boat was drifting about 11 nautical miles off the coast of Kamchatka, about 1,000 kilometers (about 540 nautical miles) from the point of departure on the other side of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The video released by the prosecutor’s office shows an emaciated man in a life jacket desperately shouting “come here!” and the crew working to pull him to safety. “I have no strength left,” Pichugin said as he was taken to safety.