If you manage to survive the near-death experience of being lost at sea for over a year, the last thing you expect to return home to is a hefty lawsuit against you.
But this is the exact situation that fisherman Jose Salvador Alvarenga finds himself in, and it’s for the strangest reason.
Alvarenga, pictured below, set out from Mexico with his friend Ezekiel Cordoba for a two-day fishing expedition back in November of 2012.
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After a series of calamities, the pair found themselves adrift in the Pacific Ocean. For the next 14 months, Alvarenga managed to survive by catching and eating whatever he could. He also drank rainwater and the blood of sea turtles.
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Cordoba died after just four months at sea. According to Alvarenga, the effects of their new diet were too much for Cordoba to handle. Alvarenga tossed Cordoba’s body overboard after he died, and his remains have never been found.
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Over a year later, Alvarenga was finally rescued after his boat reached the Marshall Islands.
Cordoba’s family believes that Alvarenga actually ate his friend. They’re currently suing Alvarenga for murder and cannibalism. The accused party maintains his innocence.
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The timing of the lawsuit is quite significant, since it came just a few days after the release of Alvarenga’s book about surviving the horrible ordeal.
(via Unexplained Mysteries)
Well, that’s fairly disturbing. My instinct is to believe that Alvarenga survived without turning to cannibalism. But then again, it would make a lot of sense. I guess we’ll leave this decision up to the court.