Kilifi: Eight fishermen whose boat capsized 18 days ago found alive

In what has unfolded like a scene from a thriller, 8 fishermen whose boat capsized on December 8, 2019 in Ziwayu, Kilifi County, have been found alive.

Citizen Digital understands they are all in bad shape and are currently receiving specialised medical care at the Malindi sub-county hospital.

They were discovered treading water in the open sea by other fishermen, having drifted a distance of seven hours from where their vessel capsized.

The Chairman of the Fishermen Association of Malindi, Yunnus Aboud, said the 8 survived the harsh ocean for a mind-boggling 18 days, subsisting on 58 kilograms of lobster and fish that they had caught that day.

They were in the ill-fated Alhafidh Fibre 15HP boat that was wrecked by a series of powerful waves forcing the crew to jump ship and swim for dear life.

José Salvador Alvarenga, a native of Mexico, is renowed for having survived the longest in the ocean; a record 438 days.

And there have been others over the years but Marine biologists project that the longest you would survive in the sea – if the sharks stayed away- would be 8 days. After which you would succumb to hunger or extreme dehydration.