A Colombian woman who had fallen off the grid two years ago was miraculously discovered alive at sea by flabbergasted fishermen. Video of her dramatic rescue has since gone viral online.
A WOMAN who had been missing from her family for two years has been found floating alive in the sea by baffled fishermen. Angelica Gaitan, 46, was found unconscious and suffering from hypothermia off the coast of Colombia. She was discovered by fisherman Rolando Visbal and a pal floating 1.2 miles off the town of Puerto Colombia on the Atlantic side of the country at around 6am on Saturday. It reported her first words after being rescued were “I was born again, God did not want me to die.”
In the stunning footage shot by her rescuer, Visbal and a friend named Gustavo can be seen maneuvering their vessel toward the suspended woman, who appears unresponsive. In fact, they initially mistook Gaitan for a piece of driftwood until she raised her hands to signal for help, the Sun reported.
She was brought ashore where locals tended to her before she was taken to hospital. Angelica was then reunited with her family as she told investigators what had happened to her since disappearing two years ago. During her time in the sea she stayed afloat for eight hours as sharks circled her as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
But then with time beginning to run out, she had a miraculous stroke of luck when she was spotted by a fisherman who initially thought she was a log until she waved her hand to summon help.
Dramatic video shows the moment Rolando and a friend known only as Gustavo came across Angelica, who appears to be completely unresponsive. Rolando told Colombia’s Caracol Radio that they nearly didn’t go out fishing that day after problems with his boat’s engine delayed an earlier trip.
“If we hadn’t had the problem with the spark plug on Friday, we would have gone fishing that day and the woman would be dead at sea,” he said. “Gustavo warned me to be careful with the trunk and I began to turn about 15 degrees to the right, then to my surprise the trunk moved. I thought it was something supernatural.” The video shows Angelica being dragged towards the boat in a lifebuoy the pair had thrown to her and which she had used her last ounce of energy to put on.
