Fishermen: We never gave up hope to be saved

The three remaining took turns on watch for other boats while two slept. Vidana said this task caused a considerable amount of tension, although there were never any fistfights.

“We never lost hope because we were always seeing boats. They passed us by, but we kept on seeing them. Every week or so, sometimes we’d go a month without seeing one, but we always saw them, so we never lost hope,” Vidana said, noting that it is difficult to see a small boat in heavy ocean seas.

When the Japanese trawler found them, however, all three were sleeping. Vidana said the three cried when they realized they would be rescued.

‘Miracles exist’
Although most of the town had given them up for dead when the vessel never returned, Vidana’s mother refused to accept her son was dead. She said months ago she dreamed that Vidana was stuck on a deserted island.

The families were ecstatic after hearing news of their rescue. “Now you see that miracles exist,” said Marina Estrada, the aunt of one of the fishermen.

Vidana will return to his wife, parents, and two kids — one of which was born during his absence.

Mexico is sending an official to meet the survivors in the Marshall Islands and help bring them home when the trawler that picked them up returns to port in a couple of weeks.

“We’re recovering,” survivor Lucio Rendon said, “sleeping a lot, and eating well.”

Salvador Ordonez, the third survivor, said, “I knew I was going to live, that I wasn’t going to die.” The three men are around 30 years old.

Vidana said as soon as he returns to his village, he will take his family to a little church and give thanks to God. One of his first questions was who won the Mexican presidential election. He could not wait to eat meat tacos and quesadillas.

Vidana added that he will then continue to fish, noting that’s the only way he knows to feed his family.

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