A seaman who fell into the sea survived by holding on to a “piece of sea garbage”, his son has revealed.
Vidam Perevertilov survived 14 hours in the water after he fell overboard into the Pacific Ocean in the early morning.
The 52-year-old sailor, who didn’t have a life jacket on, credits his choice to swim towards a “black dot” many kilometres away with protecting his life.
It turned out to be a fishing buoy, which he clung onto until his rescue.
“He looked like 20 years older and very exhausted, but he was not dead,” his son Marat told New Zealand media.
Mr Perevertilov is the Lithuanian chief engineer of the Silver Supporter, travelling to make a supply run between the isolated British territory of Pitcairn.
After a shift in the engine room forcing fuel, he had felt “dizzy and hot”, said his son. He then walked out onto the deck to relax at around 5:00 in the morning on February 16th before falling.
Marat, who got the information of his father’s survival story via text messages, believes he may have passed out, as he does not remember going over.
Unaware that a man had fallen off the cargo ship, the ship sailed away.
