47-year-old Elvis Francois from the Caribbean island of Dominica got lost at sea and survived for 24 days on ketchup, garlic powder and bouillon cubes.
He was eventually rescued by the Colombian Navy in Colombian waters.
Elvis said in a video released by the Colombian Navy that he had no food while he was lost at sea, and that there was only a bottle of ketchup, some garlic powder and bouillon cubes.
He mixed them up with some water in order to survive 24 days at sea.
He then carved the word “help” on the hull of his boat, and was eventually found about 120 nautical miles northwest of Puerto Bolivar, in La Guajira.
Elvis added that he saw other boats passing him by and tried to flag them down, but they didn’t see him despite him even lighting a fire on his boat.
Then sometime on 15 January, he saw a plane and used a mirror to make some signals, catching the glare of the sun and shining it on the aircraft to draw attention.
The plane then passed over his boat twice and that was when he realised that they had seen him, and he said that he was grateful for being alive today because of them.
The plane then informed the Navy, and Elvis as then rescued with the help of a merchant ship.
He said that he had nobody to talk to and no land for 24 days, and that he didn’t know what to do, and didn’t know where he was.
He had lost hope after a while and thought about his family.
The Colombian Navy said that Elvis was working to repair a sailboat off a harbour in St Maarten in December last year when he was swept out to sea because of the bad weather.
he had no knowledge of navigation and was lost and disoriented at sea, he tried to make calls on his phone but had no signal.