Photo: RHONA WISE / AFP / Getty Images
For: EFE Updated 31 Jan 2022, 21: 12 pm EST
The Colombian Juan Esteban Montoya Caicedo, the only survivor of the shipwreck of a boat with 40 people off the coast of Florida, confessed that “it was very hard” to survive three days adrift, without food or drink.
“Thank God everything went well and I am in good health“, said the young man, of 12 years old, in an interview that he offered to the Hispanic network Telemundo broadcast this Monday and in which he pointed out that the recovery in the hospital to which he was transferred after being rescued by the US Coast Guard was “a little slow”.
The young man, who in the shipwreck that occurred more than a week ago lost his sister from 18 years, offered these statements about the tragic journey, after meeting again with his mother after receiving the hospitable aunt.
“It was very exciting to see my mom after so long. It was something that I wanted a long time ago, and something that my sister also wanted and unfortunately she could not be there, “said the Colombian, which was discovered by the coastguard on the overturned boat.
His lawyer, Naimeh Salem, told the media that Juan Esteban saw how the others were dying around him, including his sister, “ until he was alone.” “That’s why he is so traumatized, he doesn’t understand how he was the only survivor,” Salem added.
The woman pointed out that they are going to start work to ensure that the young man obtains immigration status and expressed his satisfaction that, once discharged, the immigration authorities had not detained him with a view to his deportation.
“He is my miracle of life, for me he is a champion, for everything he overcame in that tragedy full of strength full of courage “, said his mother, Marcia Montoya, in the middle during the reunion.
The young man, a native of Guacarí (Colombia), was one of the occupants of a boat from 22 feet (7.6 meters) in length that capsized after setting sail on Saturday from Bimini, one of the islands of the Bahamas archipelago.
According to the testimony of the survivor, in the boat that sank on Sunday about 31 miles (64 km) to east of Fort Pierce Cove, about 200 overland miles from Miami, they were 40 people, none of them with life jackets.
Juan Esteban was rescued on Tuesday by the captain of a ship who spotted him drifting over the vessel and informed the Coast Guard of what had happened, after which the agency deployed a search and rescue operation by air and sea.
The Coast Guard covered between Tuesday morning and Thursday evening, when they called off the search, an area of more than 10,500 square miles (more of 27 . km squares), in which they could only rescue five bodies.
“Unfortunately, we have reached the most difficult moment in any search and rescue case and that’s the point where we decide when to stop actively searching,” Capt. Jo-Ann Burdian, commander of Coast Guard Sector Miami, said in a statement.
“After careful consideration of all available information, including weather conditions, the number of people who went into the water without life jackets , the time that has elapsed since the date of the accident, and a relentless search in an area larger than Massachusetts, it is with a heavy heart that I have decided to call off the search.”
The investigation to determine if there was a drug trafficking crime people in this case is moving forward, according to Anthony Salsibury, Department of Homeland Security special agent in charge of the case.
Read more:
The tragic journey of the Colombian Juan Montoya who survived the shipwreck off the coast of Florida
Coast Guard suspends search for survivors of a shipwreck in Florida after rescuing 1 survivor and 5 bodies
“He lived through hell”: the mother of the sole survivor of the shipwreck off Florida asks to be released