SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — February 18, 2014 — The Salvadoran fisherman who says he drifted at sea for more than a year left a hospital Tuesday after treatment for the psychological and physical effects of his ordeal, and told reporters he survived because of his faith in God.
Jose Salvador Alvarenga, 37, appeared strong and walked without help, but also seemed disoriented and had trouble speaking.
Alvarenga said he didn’t plan to tell his story and didn’t want to remember the ordeal.
‘‘I always had faith that I was going to survive, asking (God) every day and every night,’’ he said. ‘‘I never lost faith that one day I would be found.’’
Asked about the fate of his fishing companion, Ezequiel Cordova, 22, Alvarenga said Cordova lived four months in the boat before succumbing to starvation and exposure. Alvarenga has said that he lived on fish, turtles and birds and that Cordova had difficulty eating raw food.
Reporters asked if Alvarenga had eaten Cordova to survive, and he answered with an emphatic ‘‘No.’’
‘‘He died of starvation and the sun,’’ Alvarenga added.
He said Cordova’s parents shouldn’t worry for their son because he died praying to God: ‘‘The whole time he was asking for forgiveness.’’
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe