THE story of a castaway who survived 15 months at sea by living off blood from birds is true, a former US ambassador has said.
Many had doubted the tale but Tom Armbruster told The Sun how he was one of few people to meet with the survivor and said there’s “no credible reason” he would lie.
José Salvador Alvarenga had left Mexico with a pal in December 2012 for what was meant to be a two-day fishing trip – but he ended up spending 438 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean after his boat lost power.
Tom was the US ambassador for the Marshall Islands where a traumatised José washed up alive after his terrifying ordeal and told him the “greatest survival story ever”.
Just hours after the “swollen and dehydrated” sailor was hauled aboard a rescue ship Tom visited him and spent time listening to his chilling account.
He told The Sun: “We talked for about half an hour, and established several things.
“One was that he had been at sea for quite a long time and survived on fish, on turtles, and on birds, particularly birds’ blood.
“His companion, unfortunately, got sick, and then could not tolerate the bird diet, the bird blood in particular.”
José tried to keep Ezequiel Cordoba’s body to return it to his family – but he was faced with an agonising choice as hallucinations began to take hold.
He said: “His companion stayed on board for a while.
“In fact, Mr Alvarenga spoke to him and then felt like he was going a little bit crazy, and he was buried at sea.
“He said that he was talking to the body, and think that then he felt like he was losing his mind a bit. You know that he was talking back to him.”
Another difficult moment came as José was offered a glimmer of hope when a ship sailed past him although – these hopes were short-lived when the vessel didn’t realise his predicament and thought he was just a fisherman.
“I think the part that struck home was when he mentioned that they saw a container,” Mr Armbruster said.
“He saw a container ship go by and he signalled to it.
“The men on board the crew waved, and then just kept going, and you could tell that that really crushed him.”
“That was probably the moment where he lost faith and humanity and wondered if he was ever going to get out of this.
“You couldn’t help but feel for the man at that point in the story.”
The family of 22-year-old Ezequiel Cordoba have since tried to sue José for $1 million after making shocking claims that he ate him to keep himself alive.
But José denies the allegations and said his crewmate ate a bird that had a poisonous snake in its stomach which made him ill.
Tom explained how he thought mentally José “couldn’t take the decomposing body of his friend on the ship,” although he admitted he would “never know” the truth.
But, despite knowing he won’t find the answer to this specific question Tom has hit back at sceptics who criticise the story in its entirety.
They previously questioned how José was in remarkably good condition after such an ordeal.
Although he had grown a “shaggy beard” and “moved with difficulty” José’s lips were not cracked from dehydration and his skin had not been savaged by the sun.
Tom said: “There’s no credible reason why a fisherman off the coast of Mexico would end up in the Marshall Islands especially, and if you’re looking for publicity, you wouldn’t arrive on the island in the middle of nowhere.
“No reporters, no press, you know he was not seeking publicity.”
He added that when the rescuers made contact with José he was “almost violent” and “afraid they were going to attack him”.
“It sounded so incredible to us, but I think only somebody who is a sailor and who lives their life on the sea could survive something like that,” Mr Armbruster said.
José had reportedly built a catchment system for rainwater and a special technique to trap birds and turtles.
Tom explained: “He did create some shade on board the boat so that he could stay out of the sun, and he had some sort of way of trapping the birds as well, and then he would tie the birds feet so that he could use them.
“I think it’s a story of someone who never gave up, never lost hope and just managed to survive, using all the skills he had acquired over a lifetime on the ocean.”
José was sued for £770,000 ($1million) by the family of his deceased crew-mate Ezequiel Cordoba in 2015.
They accused him of cannibalism and claimed Jose ate Ezequiel to survive.
The two men survived together catching turtles and birds to eat until Ezequiel became sick and died, according to Jose.
The castaway claimed he kept the body of his pal onboard for a number of days before it begun to drive him mad and he pushed the corpse into the sea.
Jose told The Guardian how he promised his crew- mate that if he survived he’d find Cordoba’s mother in Chiapas, Mexico, and deliver her son’s goodbye.
After surviving against all the odds, in March 2014 Jose visited Cordoba’s mother, Rosalia Rios, and was welcomed with open arms.
But some time after he had delivered the message from her son Jose’s book, 438 Days, was published.
Ezequiel’s family then begun $1 million legal action, accusing Mr Alvarenga of eating their relative.
“I believe that this demand is part of the pressure from this family to divide the proceeds of royalties,” said Ricardo Cucalon, Mr Alvarenga’s lawyer.
He told El Salvadoran newspaper El Diario de Hoy that Jose has always denied eating his friend.
“Many believe the book is making my client a rich man, but what he will earn is much less than people think.”
The book, he said, has done poorly in the US, with only 1,500 copies sold. But that has not stopped Cordoba’s family from seeking a share of the profits.
In April, they demanded that Mr Alvarenga hand over 50 per cent of the revenues.
