In mid-January it had been reported that Francois had been rescued by the Colombian navy after he survived for 24 days adrift in the Caribbean on a sailboat by eating ketchup, garlic powder and seasoning cubes and rainwater that he collected with a cloth.
Francois told Colombian authorities that his ordeal began in December when currents swept the sailboat out to sea while he was making repairs off the island of St. Martin in the Netherlands Antilles, where he lives. Heinz, in another Instagram post, showed an outline of the country of Dominica - “He’s here somewhere. We just don’t know where.”Francois was rescued after he signaled a plane flying overhead with a mirror. On a second pass, the plane spotted him.
“At some point I lost hope and thought about my family, but I thank the coast guard. If it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be telling the story,” Francois said. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.