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Pichugin, a survivor of a boat accident in the Sea of Okhotsk, said that his brother had gone crazy
They accidentally found and rescued tourist Mikhail Pichugin (46), who had been drifting between the waves on a boat for two months with his brother and son in the Sea of Okhotsk. The man is currently hospitalized, the department reported. Chief physician of the Magadan Regional Hospital Yuri Lednev.
The doctor said, "It appears that the patient's condition has stabilized somewhat," and "We plan to place him in the intensive care unit and conduct a detailed examination."
Pichugin was taken to the hospital and placed in the anti-shock department. First of all, he will be given a full diagnosis and a psychologist will work with the victim. His son and brother did not survive. The tourists had to stay on the ship with the corpse for a long time.
"It is obvious that he is very tired. Doctors will be with him 24 hours a day. A psychologist will come to him tomorrow. Because in any case, a person needs to feel relief after what happened. We try not to ask him unnecessary questions so as not to evoke unpleasant memories," Lednev said.
Pichugin was conscious when he was found in the boat. The first thing he did was take a warm shower on the ship that was carrying him, and also managed to eat and sleep several times. The man was severely dehydrated and exhausted, conscious and in a stable, critical condition. He responded adequately to his surroundings and was sedated. The situation was taken under control by the regional health minister, Alexander Vitko.
The Pichugin family loves to travel, and this time the men wanted to go to Shantar Island to see whales, their relatives shared.
"Watching the whales personally was very inspiring for them. They thought about all the good things. 'What nature there is!'
His older brother Sergei (49) and nephew Ilya (15) went on the journey with Mikhail Pichugin. The latter celebrated his birthday for two months while the ship was drifting at sea, but it is unknown whether the teenager lived to see it.
The tourists studied the route in advance and prepared for the trip for a whole year. Kozulin called them experienced travelers, ready for the unexpected. All three went out to sea on a special inflatable boat with an armored bottom, capable of carrying up to a ton of cargo. Since the island is a protected area, the holiday was coordinated with the border services.
"We're going to Shantari. Look at the whales, look at the fish." Pichugin Jr. filmed the boat and talked about his plans before the trip.
The trip initially went according to plan, with the men meeting in Khabarovsk Krai and sailing along the way, meeting other tourists along the way. They disappeared on the final stretch of the boat journey, from Cape Perovsky to Cape Chkalov and on to the coastal Sakhalin town of Okha. Pichugins set sail from Perovsky on the afternoon of August 9, but was subsequently unable to be contacted at the appointed time. The boat's engine stalled and it drifted further from shore.
"Relatives say that rescuers were negligent in their work and did not treat the entire area when they could. A week and a half ago, relatives of the missing man went straight to Sakhalin and rented a boat to inspect the coast of the Amur estuary. The search also yielded no results," the Baza Telegram channel reports.
At the same time, the rescue services themselves draw attention to the difficult weather conditions, which do not allow the use of boats or helicopters. In total, searches were conducted three times: twice by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, once with the help of volunteers and once by plane. In connection with this incident, a criminal case was opened under the article on violation of the rules for the operation of sea transport.
"The ex-wife of the surviving man, Ekaterina, believed from the very beginning that he was not dead. She pointed out to the experts that they had found nothing, neither a catamaran nor a boat moored nearby. . The woman continued to come to the prosecutor's office, demanding that they never stop searching for her loved one... The mother of the dead boy also contacted the prosecutor's office... with a request to find her son... and hired the rescued expert. Money," explains the Telegram channel Mash.
The Pichugin family had only two weeks of food and 20 liters of drinking water. They also took warm clothes, life jackets and flares with them.
"I had to fight my way out of that situation, I had to drink rainwater and soak peas to extend my life," Shot said of the man's words before he was taken to intensive care.
The Pichugins collected rainwater in containers that they carried with them. In addition to peas, I also soaked cereals and freeze-dried noodles. Mikhail's ex-wife Ekaterina suggested that his large weight helped him survive. Before the tragedy, the man weighed about 100 kg, and now he weighs about 50 kg.
According to different versions, it is caused by dehydration and hypothermia or hunger.
"There was still food left in his stomach. He could no longer eat dry noodles and soaked peas. His body did not accept this food."
Three weeks later, in late September, Pichugin's younger brother died. Mikhail told rescuers that eventually he would no longer be able to eat his own food.
Mash reports that after his son's death, Sergei Pichugin practically "went crazy." He screamed and jumped out of the boat. Because of this, Mikhail had to pull him out of the water, change his clothes, and warm him with his body. As Baza reports, Mikhail told the fishermen that bedsores had begun to develop at the end of September. To ease the pain a little, his brother decided to wash himself. But he couldn't take it anymore and fell into the water. Mikhail was able to save his brother from the icy water, but he froze so much that he died.
When the group disappeared, the sea temperature had already dropped to 8 degrees. Moreover, the ship was caught in a storm. A sea anchor helped it stay afloat. Pichugin tied the body to the boat so that it would not fly overboard. After the death of his loved one, he hung a reflective life jacket on his boat so that it could be seen from afar, and this ultimately saved his life.
On October 14, the crew of the trawler Angel was passing by and saw a reflection of light. At first, the crew thought it was a buoy, but soon recognized the ship. Pichugin was found almost 70 days later in the ocean, thousands of kilometers from the Oka. By then, the tourist was so exhausted that he had to use a crane to leave the ship. The Duma has already offered rewards to the sailors who rescue people.
Experts call Pichugin's case unique. He had to act very carefully to survive and survive at sea without enough supplies.
Survival expert Eduard Khalilov said: "This rescue story should encourage other sailors to have enough water, food, medicine and the means to send out a distress signal when they go out to sea."