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Australian man, dog lost in Pacific Ocean for 60 days, rescued; ‘Was alone a long time'
Tim Shaddock embarked on a sailing adventure with his dog Bella, aboard a catamaran from La Paz city in Mexico in April but got stranded in the Pacific.
An Australian sailor Tim Shaddock and his dog Bella were rescued after two months of being lost in the Pacific Ocean, where they survived the long ordeal by drinking rainwater and snacking on raw fish. Shaddock, 51, spoke about his difficult ordeal over the two month in a video after his rescue, and said he just needed "rest and good food as he had been alone a long time."
Shaddock embarked on a sailing adventure with his dog Bella, aboard a catamaran from the coastal city of La Paz in Mexico in April. They had planned to sail 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) across the vast ocean and ultimately land in French Polynesia. However, they got stranded in the Pacific after rough seas damaged the vessel and knocked out its electronics.
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The exhausted and disheveled Shaddock was then saved from the open waters two months later by a Mexican tuna trawler. "I've just got fishing gear," he told one of his rescuers, news agency AFP reported.
A visibly gaunt Shaddock endured a spartan seafood diet for surviving but he otherwise felt "in very good health".
Shaddock and Bella would soon be ferried back to Mexico, AFP said.
Australia's Nine News reported that after examining Shaddock, doctors said he "normal vital signs". Experts noted that in situations like these, securing freshwater is the most important factor, for which Shaddock had been depending on rain water.
Ccean survival expert rofessor Mike Tipton, described Dhaddock's case a"needle in a haystack" situation to Nine News. He said luck was only a part of their survival story as a combination of luck and skill, both are needed against vast oceans.
