The three fishermen, identified as Salvador Ordoñez, Jesus Vidaña and Lucio Rendón, said they set out from the Mexican town of San Blas last October to fish for shark. They said their fiberglass boat quickly broke down, and they drifted for nine months, surviving on rainwater, fish and seagulls, and on reading the Bible to keep their spirits up.
A Taiwanese tuna trawler Koo 102, operating as usual in the waters between the Marshall Islands and Kiribati, rescued the three men Aug. 9 near the Marshall Islands. The three survivors of an original five told Mexico's Televisa news network about their odyssey Aug. 15 in a telephone hookup via the ship's satellite communication system.
The trio was originally expected to remain on the fishing boat for up to two weeks after their rescue, Eugene Muller, manager of Koo's Fishing Co. which owns the trawler, told a local newspaper. But the company's owner, Koo Kwang-ming, a former senior advisor to President Chen Shui-bian, ordered the boat to take them immediately to the Marshall Islands' capital of Majuro, since they had been lost at sea for so long.
An official from the Mexican embassy in New Zealand would fly to Majuro to help the fishermen--given up by their families for dead--return home this week, Muller said.
According to local Chinese-language newspaper Liberty Times, this was the second time the trawler had rescued lost fishermen. Captain Yen Ching-shui said that in March his crew had saved two fishermen from Kiribati who had been lost for 60 days. Koo said Kiribati President Anote Tong had expressed his gratitude.
Koo said that his company plans to purchase two more 1,000-ton vessels this year to expand its investment in its Marshall Islands fishing business, a cooperative venture with the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority. Other countries in the region such as Tuvalu have also shown interest in seeking cooperation with the company.
Koo is scheduled to accompany President Chen on his diplomatic tour next month to the nation's Pacific allies. Regarding the ROC's diplomatic relations with these countries, Koo told local media that these were all island nations, and their development would largely rely on marine resources. "This is something Taiwan can help with."