Young man stranded in Marmara lands alive after 24 hours

ISTANBUL

A young man who went to sea from Istanbul to fish on his 2.5-meter boat has managed to land safely after 24 hours, despite running out of fuel and his oars falling into the water.

“There was a leak in the gas tank of the boat, and the oars fell into the sea as their ropes were rotten. I threw an anchor to avoid being dragged, but when the wind increased its speed, the anchor’s rope broke,” Recep Çelikel, the unfortunate 20-year-old, said.

Çelikel, who sailed from Istanbul’s Silivri to fish, as he had done many times before, said though he waved to the fishermen and cargo ships to show himself after he started to drift, they did not see him.

“As the hours went on, it got dark, the wind got stronger, and the sea rippled.”

He stated that he had burned his clothes with a lighter as the coast guard boats and a helicopter passed by, but again no one noticed him.

“Then, I found a 50-meter cable in the boat. I tied one end to the boat and the other to my foot and jumped into the sea to swim next to the ships I saw in the distance or to cut their way,” he said.

“But the waves were dragging me away, then I lost hope and went back to my boat. At that time, someone from a foreign ship saw me and they took me on board.”

Disembarked after the ship’s crew informed the coast guard, Çelikel said, “My family started to think that I would not be alive anymore. When my grandmother learned about the incident, she came from [the northern province of] Tokat for my funeral.”

“I have no health problems,” Çelikel said, expressing his desire to go back to the sea to fish after a while.