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incredible-sea-survival-stories

Incredible Sea Survival Stories

Jose Vango was lost at sea for 438 days and survived in 2012 Jose and his new first mate Ezekiel Cordoba set out on a 30-hour deep sea fishing Expedition off the coast of Mexico 2 days after leaving Shore the men were caught in a powerful storm that blew them 50 Mi out to sea fortunately Jose had a two-way radio with a weak signal he called his boss back on Shore begging for help he was assured a rescue party was on its way then the storm suddenly picked up and violently pounded their boat for five more days and nights shaking the 25- Ft vessel as they drifted further and further from Shore the rescue called off after just 2 days because of the Ferocious Wind and Rain once the storm let up Jose and Ezekiel realized they not only didn't know where they were but nearly all their electrical and motor equipment was destroyed no nobody was coming to save them Jose and Ezekiel were left floating in the Pacific Ocean all alone days turned to weeks and weeks turn to months food was not plentiful but did come their way with the men regularly grabbing raw Turtles Birds jellyfish and other creatures from the sea remember consuming raw animals while lost at sea is especially dangerous not just for the bacteria and parasites but also from potential toxins created by rapidly proliferating blue green algae that can build up and tissues of those animals when it came to drinking water they captured as much rain as they could but when that ran out they resorted to drinking Turtle blood or their own urine this is important medical information here despite be grills doing this on TV it is not advised to drink your own urine as it's rich in minerals that will only speed up the dehydration process in fact the Army survival manual states to never use alcoholic beverages urine blood or seawater as water substitutes 4 months into their seemingly endless drift Ezekiel lost all hope he gave up eating and succumbed to starvation experts really can't say how long humans can live without food as it's not an ethical area to study but some research on individuals participating in hunger strikes and those trapped or buried gives us a rough estimate of 8 to 12 weeks 6 days later Jose released Ezekiel overboard weeping over the loss of his friend but he never gave up hope finally 400 38 days into this horrific ordeal Jose spotted a small patch of land on the horizon he decided now was his chance he Dove overboard and swam to shore to a tiny tropical island known as tile iset in the Marshall Islands where he was spotted by two locals this was his first human contact in nearly a year he was rushed to a hospital where doctors diagnosed him with anemia suspected have been caused by the frequent consumption of raw marine animals leading to parasitic infection of his liver Jose recovered boarded a plane and flew 6,000 m home Harrison oen spent 60 hours trapped in an air pocket on the ocean floor and survived in the middle of the night in 2013 a tugboat off the coast of Nigeria was on the way to an oil tanker when it capsized in surprisingly rough Seas incredibly Harrison the boat's cook happened to be awake using the restroom because of Advanced locks on the ship's doors meant to deter Pirates Harrison was unable to escape the capsized vessel he was trapped in a small bathroom as the ship took on water and began to sink fortunately for Harrison the door locks wound up saving his life as the ship sank deeper into the Grim depths of the ocean Harrison remained safe inside an air bubble that had been trapped inside with him eventually the sinking stopped and Harrison realized he was now submerged in a pitch black on the ocean floor any attempt to escape the ship at this point would result in Harrison drowning or suffering the consequences of water pressure at 100 ft quick Ascension from 100 ft depth would put him at incredibly high risk of pulmonary barot trauma bursting his lungs or decompression sickness where dissolved nitrogen air can bubble out leading to joint pain neurologic injury or even death all Harrison could do was sit in the darkness and pray above the surface a team had been assembled to find the wreck and retrieve the believed to be dead crew this unfortunately didn't happen quickly as Harris sat at the bottom of the ocean for 60 hours before miraculously the hand of a rescue diver emerged from the water the diver quickly assessed Harrison's condition and things were not looking good after breathing the same air for nearly 3 days Harrison was falling victim to carbon dioxide poisoning every time he would Breathe he would take in some of that precious trapped oxygen but then he would expel more carbon dioxide in fact experts believe that if he was trapped for longer than 60 hours it would have been the carbon dioxide build up and toxicity that would have been the cause of his death rather than running out of oxygen Harrison eventually surfaced with the help of a diving bell or a mobile pocket of air allowing for a gradual return to the surface at a consistent pressure he was then placed in a decompression chamber for 3 days which allowed his body to gradually adjust to the surface level pressures Harrison went on to receive his official license and now works as a deep sea diver himself Fang Lang witnessed the Titanic sink in Into The Frigid dark depths of the Atlantic Ocean and survived in April 1912 Fang langang boarded the RMS Titanic headed for New York City where he was contracted to work as a fireman on another ship headed towards Cuba as the infamous story goes on April 14th at 11:40 p.m. the Titanic struck an iceberg over the course of just a few hours the largest ship in history sank bringing 1,500 passengers and crew along with it but not Fang Lang Fang was not lucky enough to leave the Titanic aboard a dry Lifeboat instead Fang found himself diving off the ship and floating for his life within the bitterly cold ocean it's estimated the water temperature that night was around 28° F and look despite the popularity of ice baths floating and freezing water post shipwreck is incredibly deadly with immersion hypothermia setting in after just minutes and 15 to 45 minutes before the brain and heart ultimately can stop it's unknown exactly how long Fang was floating in the ocean but he held on while passengers were lost to the cold water around him eventually a Lifeboat came back and rescued Fang as he was on the brink of death Fang then sat shivering in the Lifeboat for several hours until the Carpathia rescued 700 survivors early the next morning Edgar Harold experienced one of the worst shark attacks in recorded history and survived in July of 1945 1,200 men were aboard the US USS Indianapolis sailing through the South Pacific days before nuclear bombs would be dropped on Japan to end World War II the Seas were calm and the air was warm with Edgar lounging on the ship playing cards with his fellow soldiers but beneath the surface horror was coming shortly after midnight a Japanese submarine fired two Torpedoes at the Indianapolis piercing the hull and igniting stores of fuel a massive explosion ripped the vessel apart sending Edgar and 900 survivors into the ocean Edgar Bob bed up and down in the water as he and his fellow survivors watched the USS Indianapolis sink in just 12 minutes it was not long until the men were floating in life jackets in the pitch dark of the night with the worst yet to come it didn't take long for the attack to alert hundreds if not thousands of hungry sharks to Edgar's location Edgar and his fellow men had nowhere to escape and no way to defend themselves he watched in horror as one man after the other was pulled under the water and eaten by the Sharks and look while shark attacks on hum is a rather rare phenomenon they're usually lethal when medical help cannot be immediately accessed as blood loss can be profuse and rapid and for those who avoided the Sharks dehydration got the best of them with many men succumbing to drinking seawat seawater is extremely salty containing nearly 9 G of salt per cup when the average person is ideally supposed to take in 2 G of salt per day so not only does the excess salt in the intestines pull in water dehydrating the body cells but the kidneys have to make use of even more water to rid the huge amount of salt taken in double the damage no benefit finally after 4 and 1/2 days of Terror an American plane spotted the floating men and alerted the Navy to their location Edgar and 316 men were pulled from the water with the total loss of life reaching nearly 900 Scott Cassell was attacked by a swarm of humbled squid and survived during a video shoot X expert nature documentarian Scott Cassell was swimming in the Pacific Ocean holding a large camera hoping to capture footage of humbled squid otherwise known in Mexico as Diablo Rojo the Red Devil along with being beautiful elegant swimmers the humbold squid are also known to be quite aggressive or at least have been in the past in the presence of shiny cameras invading their territory not to mention new research has confirmed they engaged in coordinated hunting or hunting in packs shortly after hitting the water Scott was attacked by a violent humbled squid who wrapped its tentacles around his arms and began to pull another squid launched at Scott's camera and pulled it as hard as it could dislocating Scott's shoulder a shoulder dislocation a situation like this is incredibly dangerous given the fact the arm becomes difficult if not impossible to move limiting mobility in the water remember while a dislocation is a joint issue it can also come with torn ligaments and or tendons these squids also have sharp beaks which they use to eat and Scott could feel them ripping through his wet suit and breaking his skin two more squids grabbed Scott by the legs and begin pulling him deeper underwater causing his eardrum to explode middle ear barot trauma also known as middle ear squeeze is when there's an uncontrolled or rapid descent that increases pressure in the middle ear pushing the tanic membrane so much so that it can lead to rupture or even Hemorrhage this can be prevented by equalizing the pressure using a Val Sala maneuver to open the ustation tube but only only one going slowly Scott fought for his life thrashing at the squid and tearing them off his body one by one finally free Scott began to swim to the surface but not before a final squid torpedoed his wrist breaking it in five places Scott emerged from the water and screamed for help as a squid chased him from below he raced onto the boat seconds before the squid could make a second attack to pull him under Scott survived and continues to work as one of the world's leading Marine videographers Michael Packard was eaten by a humpback whale and survived just a few years ago Michael Packard a lifelong Lobster fisherman was sailing off the coast of Massachusetts when you think of lobster fishing you might be thinking of those hardcore ships in Alaska that throw giant cages into the ocean but not Michael Michael does it the old-fashioned way he geared up dropped his own body into the ocean sinking to the ocean floor to scoop up Lobsters by hand while slowly walking up the Sandy ocean floor looking for his catch of the day Michael became the catch himself out of nowhere Michael felt like he was hit by a truck and suddenly his whole world went black Michael was completely disoriented he was upside down in the dark and somehow traveling quickly through the water after a few moments Michael realized that he'd been swallowed by something far bigger than himself he became filled with Terror upon realizing he could be in the mouth of a shark but he didn't feel any sharp teeth instead Michael was inside the mouth of a humpback whale which on average can be 50 ft long and weigh over 35 tons fortunately for Michael while a humpback is large enough to put you in its mouth a hump back's throat is much smaller than a person the humpback knew this too and after feeling Michael Scratch and Claw inside its mouth decided it didn't like the taste of New England Lobster fishermen the whale surfaced and spat Michael out into the sunlight Michael was taken to the hospital and treated for soft tissue injuries I'm not going to lie while we do have icd10 codes for many illnesses I'm not sure if swallowed by humpback whale is one of them although struck by orca is Michael has been very open about this unusual experience and has said he apologizes to the whale for getting in its way I'm sorry that I got in his way he was probably more freaked out than I was I actually pulled a medical prank on other doctors I couldn't stop laughing click here to check that out enjoy that story and as always stay happy and healthy [Music]

Dr.

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