Elvis Francois Survives On Ketchup

In December 2022, 47-year-old Dominican sailor Elvis Francois drifted alone in the Caribbean after currents swept his small sailboat away while he did repairs off Saint Martin and his efforts to signal for help failed. With no food on board, he survived for 24 days by mixing ketchup, garlic powder, and Maggi stock cubes with water; catching rain in a cloth to drink; and trying to stay positive as he watched ships pass without seeing him.

He scratched “help” in English on the hull and used a mirror to reflect sunlight at passing aircraft. A Colombian Navy plane finally spotted the message, guided a nearby ship to his location, and rescuers found him exhausted and thin but alive, calling his life saved by ketchup.

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