Man survives 24 days at sea on ketchup – gets a new boat from Heinz

At the end of December, 47-year-old Elvis François was repairing a boat in the Dutch part of St. Maarten Island. Suddenly his boat started to drift and after a short time he was out at sea.

He flew 24 days at sea and survived thanks to the fact that there was water on board, along with some bouillon cubes, garlic powder, and a bottle of ketchup.

Finally he sees a plane flying over the boat and with the help of a mirror he manages to get their attention and is saved.

Shortly thereafter, the American food company Heinz, best known for producing ketchup, began a campaign on social media to reach out to the man as they wanted to replace his boat. The hashtag #FindtheKetchupBoatGuy quickly went viral.

“We received thousands of likes, shares and kind messages in our search for Elvis François,” Heinz said in a statement on his Instagram on Monday. Watchman.

“It was an amazing team effort that spanned six continents and produced hundreds of articles and threads that eventually led to the connection to Elvis.”

According to The Guardian, the company is in the process of agreeing with Elvis François how to “work out the logistical details” of how to get a new boat.

Elvis has lost everything on the boat

Elvis François said he tried on several occasions to catch the eye of passing boats. Among other things, he is alleged to have carved the word Help into the boat’s hull and also set fire to a piece of the boat to draw attention.

Once Elvis François was rescued, he had floated all the way from Saint Martin to Colombia, more than 1,500 kilometers away. He had to leave the boat at sea.

– I lost everything I had on this boat, says Elvis François in a video interview with a Dominican news site immuneuse.

There, François tells us that he also tried to catch and eat some seaweed during his time at sea.

– All I could think about was ‘when will this end,’ he told an Emonews reporter.

Despite the many days with almost no food, Elvis François is said to be in relatively good health, but has lost a lot of weight.

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