THE whale watcher who survived 67 days at sea surrounded by the bodies of his family members has broken his silence about the ordeal.
Mikhail Pichugin, from Russia, managed to survive more than two months in the sea of Okhotsk in a 15ft inflatable vessel after the engine cut out.
The 45-year-old has since spoken out about the experience from his hospital bed in Magaden where he was taken to after being rescued by a trawler aptly named ‘Angel’.
He was found by the crew clinging to a weakly clinging to a lifebuoy inside the vessel.
Despite what he has been through, Pichugin was seen smiling and laughing as he spoke to reporters.
“[I survived] with God’s help, there is no other way to say it,” he said.
“I had a Mongolian sleeping bag with camel wool,” Pichugin explained.
“It was wet, it didn’t dry. You crawl under it, wiggle a little and get warm.”
He added that he had gone out wearing a “special winter outfit” though his feet did get wet.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Pichugin admitted when asked how he survived.
“My mum stayed home, my daughter stayed home.”
He was located in his vessel 14 miles off the village of Ust-Khairyuzovo, on the Kamchatka peninsula.
Pichugin had gone out to the remote Shantar Islands in Russia on August 9 with his elder brother Sergey, 49, and his nephew Ilya for a whale-watching expedition.
However, on their return to Okha on the Russian island of Sakhalin, the engine cut out 37 miles away from land and left the trio adrift at the mercy of the stormy sea.
He revealed that they had tried to row back but the oar broke and eventually, his teenage nephew died of exhaustion and starvation, followed 10 days later by his grieving father.
“Sergey was crying, screaming and jumping into the water,” the Mash media outlet reported, citing the account the whale watcher gave to the crewmembers of the Angel trawler.
“Pichugin pulled him out of the water, warmed him up, tried to feed him, but he refused to do so, and after 10 days he also died,” reports state.
“Pichugin pulled him out of the water, warmed him up, tried to feed him, but he refused to do so, and after 10 days he also died.”
Pichugin covered the two bodies and tied them to the vessel to prevent them from going overboard.
Meanwhile, his survival has largely been credited to him being overweight.
As his vessel drifted at least 625 miles over 67 days, Pichugin lost 50kg, about half of his body weight.
He revealed that he survived only on the rainwater he collected, soaked dried peas, and freeze-fried noodles.
Despite this, Pichugin’s condition was described as “satisfactory” when he arrived at the hospital on Tuesday, which experts have called a double miracle.
“There are two real miracles here,” said Dmitry Lisitsyn, the head of Sakhalin Environment Watch
“The first is that such a small, uncontrolled boat was not capsized in the stormy autumn Sea of Okhotsk after more than two months of drifting.
“The second is that someone on this boat survived.”
When asked if he had any wishes, the whale watcher said it was “to be discharged from hospital and get home to bury my brother and nephew.”
However, there may also be legal issues facing him when he is discharged which could see the avid fisherman jailed.
Under Russian maritime law, the inflatable vessel he used for the expedition can only legally venture two nautical miles away from the shore.
A criminal case has been opened into a potential violation of maritime safety laws, according to TASS.
“He could face up to seven years in prison,” Shot Telegram channel reported.
