need to know
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An 80-year-old man survived 18 hours at sea after his boat drifted while fishing
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Ignacio Siberio told People magazine in 2005 that the experience was “very bad.”
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“I realized the only way I could succeed … was with my mind,” he said shortly after his rescue
When Ignacio Siberio was 80 years old, he went fishing in his 25-foot boat about seven miles off the Florida Keys. It was Dec. 11, 2005. Siberio was a practicing civil attorney and a skilled spearfisher who often took to the water with his nephew.
When his nephew couldn’t make it that day, he chose to go alone, although high winds and rough water threatened to ruin the experience.
Months later, Ciberio admitted in an interview with People magazine, “I shouldn’t have been there.”
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Siberio dived into the sea with his speargun and hunted for three hours before deciding to go home. When he surfaced, his boat was gone – a storm had struck and the anchor had fallen off.
Siberia could see the ship in the distance—and tried to swim after it for hours—but couldn’t quite catch up.
“It was horrible,” he told People magazine.
At this point, he said, an exhausted Siberio began treading water, fearing he would “get sucked into the Florida Straits.”
However, after an hour in the water, he spotted five foot-long buoys floating together, swam toward them and grabbed onto them as tightly as he could. As temperatures dropped overnight, he tried to relax, later telling People magazine: “I realized the only way I could succeed… was with my mind.”
Unbeknownst to Siberio, his nephew and a friend had begun a frantic search and had the Coast Guard paddle out to his favorite fishing spot.
They found him early the morning after he was first separated from the ship: Siberio had cut the buoy and wrapped it around himself. He was swimming towards the shore.
Siberio first realized he was lost at sea and was picked up on a rescue ship about 18 hours later. He was then taken to his home in Tavernier, Florida (he refused hospital visits) and was greeted by loved ones led by his wife Gloria, who was 68 years old at the time.
As People reported at the time, the incident didn’t dampen his love of fishing, and he went there several times over the next few months.
“My lesson is you have to be careful,” he told People magazine. “Luckily, I’m able to bring joy instead of sadness when I come home.”
In an interview with CBC Radio after his rescue, Siberio noted that fate seemed to be on his side.
“The buoy I grabbed and left on it all night had my date of birth on it,” he told the media. “I was born on July 31st.Yingshithere is the number 731 on the buoy. Can you imagine? “
Read the original article on People
