3 Mexican fishermen rescued — reportedly after 9 months adrift

MEXICO CITY -- Three Mexican fishermen who say they set out months ago from Mexico's western coast have been rescued near the Marshall Islands -- 5,500 miles to the west -- after surviving on rain water and raw fish.

Eugene Muller, manager of Koo's Fishing Co., said by phone Tuesday that the company's boat picked up the three on Aug. 9. Muller said the men were recovering and would be brought back to Majuro, the islands' capital, in 10 to 14 days.

"We fished, and we ate the fish raw . . . because there was no fire to cook with," survivor Jesus Vidana, 27, told Mexico's Televisa news network in a telephone hook-up to the ship's communications system.

They once went 15 days without food but had enough drinking water because "it rained every day," he said.

He said the three read the Bible as they drifted across the Pacific.

"We never lost hope because there is a God up there," he said, sounding hoarse and sleepy. "Our feet are swollen, our arms are swollen . . . but we're not in that bad shape."

Vidana said he and the other two men set off on Oct. 28, 2005, from San Blas, a coastal town about 410 miles northwest of Mexico City, to fish for sharks. But mechanical problems and adverse winds quickly pushed their 27-foot boat out to sea.

"It was nine months and nine days," Vidana recalled. "One of the guys on the boat has a watch that shows the months and the days."

There was no independent confirmation of the date when the men set out from San Blas; phone calls to port officials there went unanswered.

Muller said the men's boat appeared to have had engine problems.

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