Revealed: How hero ‘whale watcher’ survived 67 days adrift at sea, as he describes how his heartbroken brother had to watch his son die before losing his life too

A whale watcher who miraculously survived 67 days adrift in an inflatable boat stayed alive by collecting rainwater and eating soaked dried peas and freeze-dried noodles, it has been revealed.

Footage shows a conscious Mikhail Pichugin, 45, arriving at the Russian port of Magadan after being spotted by fishermen in the stormy Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

The haggard and thin man, who authorities said had lost 50 pounds of body weight, was seen wrapped in blankets and carried away on a stretcher.

He was found next to two bodies in the inflatable craft: that of his older brother Sergey Pichugin, 49, and his 15-year-old nephew Ilya.

Distraught, Mikhail brought their bodies back. One account said that Ilya died first from hypothermia and dehydration, followed by Mikhail’s brother, who was Ilya’s father.

He had tied the bodies to his 15-foot inflatable catamaran boat to prevent them from rolling overboard in rough seas.

One version from the SHOT Telegram channel was that the deaths occurred about three weeks ago.

Mikhail was described as ‘severely dehydrated and exhausted’ and was taken to Magadan Regional Hospital.

He was too weak to climb aboard the Angel and had to be lifted onto the fishing vessel.

A doctor who treated him said: ‘The patient is more or less stable and we are examining him now.

‘The necessary papers have been drawn up at the emergency department.

‘We are placing him in intensive care and conducting further investigations.

‘Examination of the chest organs, pressure measurement, monitoring, cardiogram, that is, a whole series of analyzes must be performed and viewed.

‘The person has most likely been hypothermic for a long time. It is necessary to look, to fully investigate.

‘Then it is possible to make some prognoses and prescribe further treatment.’

‘Dehydration in itself is of course a dangerous story, but in this case too we can only determine the degree of dehydration after we have carried out tests and analyses.’

Mikhail, his brother and his cousin had embarked on a whale-watching expedition in their 15-foot boat on August 9 when their engine failed and they began drifting further out to sea.

Experts have praised Mikhail’s survival after more than two months in seas known for their storms and bone-chilling temperatures as “incomprehensible.”

The family members were returning from the remote Shantar Islands, whose waters are a feeding ground for whales, to Okha, on Russia’s largest island, Sakhalin, when disaster struck.

They had warm clothing, life jackets, torches, a small supply of food and 20 liters of drinking water on board, and expected their journey to take several days.

But after the Baykat 470 M catamaran-type lost the use of its Honda engine, the ship drifted at least 1,000 kilometers over the course of more than two months.

Russian rescuers had searched in vain for the trio and after a month they apparently decided they were unlikely to survive in a sea known for its storms.

But Mikhail was eventually found about 22 kilometers outside the village of Ust-Khairyuzovo, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, by the fishing vessel Angel.

As the fishing boat approached, Mikhail was heard saying, “The power is low.”

The crew began throwing out a rope to pull the survivor’s ship closer and eventually managed to pull him aboard.

“When they said that Misha (Michail) was alive, I thought we were waiting for a miracle, and it happened,” his 38-year-old ex-wife Ekaterina Pichugina, with whom he shares a daughter, told KP-Irkutsk.

‘After four o’clock in the morning, the captain of the ship that took Misha to Magadan called me. The captain says Misha received medical attention. His condition is satisfactory.

‘However, he lost 50kg, half his weight.’

Mikhail was described as an avid fisherman, but he has not yet revealed how he survived for so long.

Local experts are amazed that he survived some 67 days after his disappearance.

Dmitry Lisitsyn, head of Sakhalin Environment Watch, said: ‘There are two real miracles here.⠀

“The first is that such a small, uncontrolled boat did not capsize in the stormy autumn sea of ​​Okhotsk after more than two months of drifting.

‘I don’t understand how this is possible.

‘The boat certainly weathered some heavy storms and stayed afloat – this is something incredible.

“The second is that someone on this boat survived. That two people died – a father and a son – is very sad, but not surprising.

‘But how the third person – their uncle and brother – could survive for more than two months in the icy, stormy sea is simply beyond comprehension. It’s truly a miracle.’

He said: ‘For more than twenty years I have been traveling across the Sea of ​​Okhotsk on an inflatable motorboat, and I fully understand what this man has gone through.

“But I don’t understand how he could have survived.”

It is not known when Mikhail’s brother and cousin died as authorities have yet to interview Mikhail.

But after he recovers, the fisherman could face the wrath of Russian prosecutors and a possible prison sentence of up to seven years, despite his miraculous story of survival.

His boat is considered unfit to travel more than two nautical miles offshore under Russian law, and a criminal case has been opened for possible violation of maritime safety laws.

Russia’s Far Eastern Prosecutor’s Office said: ‘The ship was found in the waters of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk near the village of Ust-Khayruzovo in the Kamchatka region.

“Two people died, one survived, he is receiving medical attention.”

The agency confirmed that a criminal case had been initiated, TASS reported.