José Salvador Alvarenga set out from a small fishing village in Mexico in late 2012, expecting to be back within two days. He never made it back on schedule. A violent storm struck his small boat shortly after he and his 22-year-old crewmate, Ezequiel Cordoba, left shore. The storm destroyed their engine and radio, leaving them adrift with no way to navigate or call for help. What began as a routine fishing trip turned into a fight for survival that would stretch on for over a year. With no food supply to speak of, Alvarenga and Cordoba survived by catching fish, turtles, and birds with their bare hands, eating them raw, and drinking rainwater along with their own urine when nothing else was available. Cordoba's body could not sustain the ordeal. He died roughly four months into their drift, reportedly after refusing to eat raw meat, leaving Alvarenga alone on the boat for the rest of the journey. Alvarenga continued drifting across the Pacific Ocean for months afterward, entirely alone. In January 2014, after approximately 438 days at sea, his boat washed ashore roughly 6,700 miles from where he started, on a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands. Local villagers who found him described him as nearly unrecognizable, severely malnourished, with matted hair and a swollen body from the prolonged exposure and starvation. His survival made international headlines, but the story did not end with his rescue. Cordoba's family later filed a lawsuit against Alvarenga seeking one million dollars, alleging that he had killed and eaten their son to survive rather than allowing him to die naturally. Alvarenga has consistently denied the allegation, maintaining that Cordoba died from natural causes brought on by their extreme circumstances.

José Salvador Alvarenga set out from a small fishing village in Mexico in late 2012, expecting to be back within two days. He never made it back on schedule. A violent storm struck his small boat shortly after he and his 22-year-old crewmate, Ezequiel Cordoba, left shore. The storm destroyed their engine and radio, leaving them adrift with no way to navigate or call for help. What began as a routine fishing trip turned into a fight for survival that would stretch on for over a year. With no food supply to speak of, Alvarenga and Cordoba survived by catching fish, turtles, and birds with their bare hands, eating them raw, and drinking rainwater along with their own urine when nothing else was available. Cordoba's body could not sustain the ordeal. He died roughly four months into their drift, reportedly after refusing to eat raw meat, leaving Alvarenga alone on the boat for the rest of the journey. Alvarenga continued drifting across the Pacific Ocean for months afterward, entirely alone. In January 2014, after approximately 438 days at sea, his boat washed ashore roughly 6,700 miles from where he started, on a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands. Local villagers who found him described him as nearly unrecognizable, severely malnourished, with matted hair and a swollen body from the prolonged exposure and starvation. His survival made international headlines, but the story did not end with his rescue. Cordoba's family later filed a lawsuit against Alvarenga seeking one million dollars, alleging that he had killed and eaten their son to survive rather than allowing him to die naturally. Alvarenga has consistently denied the allegation, maintaining that Cordoba died from natural causes brought on by their extreme circumstances.