A fisherman who says he survived more than a year lost in the Pacific Ocean arrived safe in the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro on Monday, NBC News reported.
The castaway, who says his name is Jose Salvador Alvarenga, was washed ashore on Ebon Atoll last week when locals found him. Alvarenga, 37, apparently had been adrift since he left Mexico in December 2012.
"He is not fully coherent," Tony de Brum, minister-in-assistance to the president of the Marshall Islands, northeast of Australia, told NBC News.
"He is hungry, swollen, in pain, extremely loopy and wants a haircut," said an interpreter who assisted in interviewing Alvarenga, NBC News reported.
Alvarenga, originally from El Salvador, said he left Mexico on a fishing trip with a partner in a 24-foot boat. The boat's engine died and he was blown off coarse. Alvarenga said he had to watch his fellow traveler, a 15-year-old named Ezekiel, starve to death, according to The Telegraph.
"He was unable to keep food down, and he starved to death after four months," the interpreter said, NBC News reported.
Alvarenga, a shark and shrimp fisherman, was able to survive on birds, turtles, fish, rainwater and urine.
"I only knew the sun and the night...I never saw land. Pure ocean, pure ocean. It was very placid- only two days with big waves," Alvarenga said, according to The Telegraph. "For four days I wanted to kill myself. But I couldn't feel the desire- I didn't want to feel the pain. I couldn't do it."
When he saw land for the first time, the castaway's first words were "Oh, God," The Telegraph reported.
"I cried, 'Oh god.' I got to land and had a mountain of sleep. In the morning I woke up and heard a rooster and saw chickens and saw a small house. I saw two native women screaming and yelling. I didn't have any clothes- I was only in my underwear and they were ripped and torn."
Alvarenga was admitted to a local hospital for treatment, de Brum told NBC News. Officials have sent his information to Mexico to try and locate his family and confirm his identity.
