Brazil: Six shipwrecked sailors are rescued thanks to a message in a bottle

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This time, reality surpassed fiction: what looked like a movie scene turned out to be the tragic story of a group of six people in Brazil. They were all crew members of a boat that sank on March 24 when the ship’s galley exploded and started a fire.

After the accident, the six people were shipwrecked for 17 days on a deserted island off the coast of northeastern Brazil. They survived on the little food they found on the ship and drank rainwater.

It was Jeferson Marcos dos Santos and Joelson Silva da Costa who came up with the idea of writing the message for help. They were on the island for 13 days when they decided to ask for help.

The message was found days later by a group of fishermen who alerted the authorities so they could rescue the group. “Help! Help! We need help. Our boat is on fire. We have been on the island of ‘Ilha das Flechas’ for 13 days, without food. Tell our families,” the note reads.

When they were rescued, Marcos said he learned this tactic during his time in the Navy and therefore knew how to call for help, according to local media. He also thanked God and the Brazilian Navy for saving them. “With the power of God and the Brazilian Navy, we managed to escape after writing a note and throwing it on a buoy. And he was found! Amen.

The six people were taken to the hospital of Belen in Brazil, and all are in good health.