Deivid Soares was fishing by himself on Christmas night off the coast of Atafona Beach in São João da Barra when he fell from his boat. The man says the two days he spent in the sea, he never gave up on hope once and knew that someone will come searching for him.
advertisement
Deivid Soares is a Brazilian fisherman who spent two days drifting in the sea in Southern Brazil before he was rescued from a buoy. The fisherman is now back in his boat and waiting on his next big catch.
Reportedly, Soares was fishing by himself on Christmas night off the coast of Atafona Beach in São João da Barra when he fell from his vessel.
The 42-year-old told Brazilian told news outlet G1 that he attempted to swim back to the boat, but was unable to do so because the current kept pulling him away.
'For me, the first 10 minutes were the most difficult because I wanted to get to the boat at all costs,' Soares said. 'But it's really an enormous weight of water, I couldn't swim against it.'
advertisement
While searching for the nearest shoreline, Soares said he spent four hours swimming until he spotted a buoy nearly five miles from where he had gone overboard.
He then came up with a hack to reach the steel-anchored float, he decided to ditch his wet pants and shirt and let himself drift to conserve energy until he reached the buoy.
Friends and family members in the fishing community alerted authorities after Soares failed to return and spotted his boat in the sea.
Soares says he never lost hope and believes that someone would eventually find him.
Twitter
Video footage showed him sitting atop the buoy in Porto do Açu before he was brought into another vessel by a group of fishermen, including to one of his friends.
'I thought many times I was going to die of cold until help arrived,' Soares said. 'I certainly had the second opportunity to face life with different eyes and to be a better man.'
Soares was taken to Santa Casa de Misericórdia Hospital and was treated for dehydration.