Man Who Survived 15 Months At Sea Accused Of Eating Colleague To Survive

The fisherman who survived for 15
months at sea is being sued for one million dollars by the family of his dead
colleague, who accused him of eating their relative to survive.

Salvador Alvarenga, 36, paid
Ezequiel Cordoba, 22, $50 to accompany him on a two-day fishing trip off the coast
of Mexico in November 2012. After a vicious storm pushed the boat out to sea,
the pair survived by catching fish and birds, and drinking turtle blood and
urine.

Mr Cordoba eventually died after
making Mr Alvarenga promise not to eat his corpse and to find his mother and
tell her what happened.

Mr Alvarenga kept the corpse on
the boat for six days for company, until he realised he had lost his grip on
reality and threw it overboard.

He was found on a remote island in
the Pacific after 348 days adrift.

Mr Cordoba’s family are now
demanding one million dollars compensation after claiming he was a victim of
cannibalism.

Mr Alvarenga’s lawyer, Ricardo
Cucalon, told local media he denied the castaway had eaten his shipmate. He
pointed out that the lawsuit was launched days after a book about Mr
Alvarenga’s ordeal was published.

He told El Salvador’s El Diario de
Hoy: “I believe that this demand is part of the pressure from this family
to divide the proceeds of royalties. Many believe the book is making my client
a rich man, but what he will earn is much less than people think,” he
said.