Castaway Jose Salvador Alvarenga Declines to Answer Questions During First Press Conference ITN News
go to original February 7, 2014

El Salvador castaway press conference: Jose Salvador Alvarenga anxious to return home (itnnews)

A fisherman who is said to have spent 14 months adrift at sea has thanked authorities for helping him. Jose Salvador Alvarenga said he was blown out to sea after setting sail on a shark fishing trip from Mexico in late December 2012. He was washed ashore in his fibreglass boat on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean and taken to the capital Majuro.

"I'm thanking the government of this place for supporting me," he told reporters at a news conference in Majuro on Thursday. "They gave me support. Thank you for looking after me. I'm feeling better now."

Alvarenga said he survived by drinking turtle blood and catching fish and birds with his bare hands. However, when asked by a reporter for more details, Alvarenga's translator stepped in. "I don't think we are taking questions right now. He's not willing to talk too much right now. He's got to get back for his medical check ups. He just wanted to say thank you for everybody helping him. He's gone through a lot and is still recovering but he's in good health right now, just a little dehydrated but everything else is good with him so," Shawn Cox said. Report by Ashley Fudge.

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