WELLINGTON – A sailor who fell overboard survived by clinging to a “piece of sea rubbish”, his son revealed.
Vidam Perevertilov spent 14 hours in the water after he fell off the cargo ship into the Pacific Ocean.
The 52-year-old, who was not wearing a life jacket, credited his decision to swim towards a “black dot” several kilometers away with saving his life.
It turned out to be a fishing buoy, which he held onto until his rescue.
“He looked about 20 years older and very tired but he was alive,” his son Marat told New Zealand news site Stuff.
Perevertilov is the Lithuanian chief engineer of the Silver Supporter, which was making a supply run between New Zealand’s Tauranga port and the isolated British territory of Pitcairn.
Following a shift in the engine room pumping fuel, he felt “hot and dizzy”, said his son. He then walked out to the deck to recover at around 4:00 a.m. on Feb. 16 before falling.(BBC)
