A Mexican castaway who says he has been lost at sea for more than 13 months has been pictured for the first time on his arrival back in civilisation.
With a bushy beard and described as “looking better than one would expect”, the man set foot on land in Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, after a 22-hour boat ride from the remote Ebon Atoll coral reef where he was found.
The US ambassador Thomas Armbruster, acting as an interpreter for the Marshall Islands authorities, said the man identified himself as a 37-year-old whose full name is Jose Salvador Albarengo.
“He said he is a shrimp and shark fisherman,” the ambassador told the AFP news agency after speaking with the castaway.
Mr Albarengo reportedly said he was on a shark-fishing expedition for the fishing company Camoronera Dela Costa in Tapachula, Mexico when strong winds forced his 24-foot (7.3m) fibreglass boat off course.