Late December 2012, Alvarenga, a 37 year old Salvadorian man, and Ezequiel Cordoba, 24, set out on a one-day shark fishing expedition, in a 7.3m (22’0) fiberglass fishing boat. After a month at sea, Cordoba died, and after over 1 year adrift, Alvarenga washed ashore on a Marshall Islands Atoll, after traveling a distance of approximately 10,000 km (6,200 miles)
A Marshall Island police patrol boat found Alvarenga this past weekend disoriented, unable to walk alone, and with a very bushy beard. Authorities are still gathering information, and will find out if this ordeal is a hoax or not. Information gathered so far alleged that Alvarenga and his mate were blown off course by northerly winds, after there engine died. The two fisherman had survived by drinking turtle blood, caught fish and birds with there bare hands, and drank there own urine. Cordoba after four weeks, succumbed to hunger and thirst because he could not stomach the raw fish and birds.
In a statement, El Salvador’s Foreign Ministry said it was working with Mexican authorities to return Alvarenga to Mexico, and then on to El Salvador.