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Castaway is sued over cannibalism claim

By T.K. Randall
December 17, 2015 · Comment icon 17 comments

Alvarenga survived by eating fish and drinking rainwater. Image Credit: CC 2.0 Erik Kristensen
A man who survived 438 days adrift at sea is being sued for $1M over claims that he ate his companion.
Fisherman Jose Salvador Alvarenga and his friend Ezekiel Cordoba had set off from Mexico on a two-day fishing trip all the way back in November 2012, but when the pair ran in to difficulties they found themselves adrift in the Pacific with little in the way of supplies.

Alvarenga was eventually rescued over 14 months later near the Marshall Islands - a distance of 6,500 miles from his original starting point. He had managed to keep himself alive throughout his ordeal by eating fish and birds as well as by drinking rainwater and the blood of sea turtles.

Cordoba however was not so lucky and after just four months had unfortunately succumbed to the effects of living on a diet of nothing but raw meat. No trace of his remains has ever been found.
Despite Alvarenga's insistance that he had never turned to cannibalism, Cordoba's family is now understood to be suing the castaway in the belief that he had eaten his shipmate to stay alive.

According to reports his family members are requesting the sum of $1M over the incident.

The case comes just days after the release of a book detailing Alvarenga's ordeal.

"I believe that this demand is part of the pressure from this family to divide the proceeds of royalties," said his lawyer Ricardo Cucalon. "Many believe the book is making my client a rich man, but what he will earn is much less than people think."

Source: BT.com | Comments (17)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #8 Posted by Myles 9 years ago
Suing this guy is uncalled for.
Comment icon #9 Posted by Farmer77 9 years ago
Once a body is dead its just a pile of meat and bones. Hell if they were American I would say the family should pay the survivor for saving them funeral costs.
Comment icon #10 Posted by Summerin1905 9 years ago
i don't think you can sue because i don't think criminal laws are put to action in the ocean. Plus honestly in this situation even if he did do cannibalism, well a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do.
Comment icon #11 Posted by CrimsonKing 9 years ago
Once a body is dead its just a pile of meat and bones. Hell if they were American I would say the family should pay the survivor for saving them funeral costs. Yeah and as the old saying goes posession is 9/10'ths of the law...
Comment icon #12 Posted by pallidin 9 years ago
Even if the original story is true I somewhat doubt the cannibalism claim. I believe, without knowledge, that he gave his dead friend a "sea burial" as best he could. Just for a moment presuming it is true that he did eat his dead friend, well, under those circumstances I feel nothing is wrong, though I could not handle that at all, and would likely puke-out. If he killed his friend for survival than that's just wrong, but I seriously doubt that happened. Who knows! I wasn't there, no-one but them were there in a really bad situation (if it is to be believed)
Comment icon #13 Posted by Silver Surfer 9 years ago
Comment icon #14 Posted by Dr.Brian 9 years ago
Something smells fishy here I agree although there is more and more information being released: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555327/EXCLUSIVE-Castaway-spent-FIVE-DAYS-shipmates-rotting-corpse-wanted-proper-burial-eventually-toss-body-overboard-putrid-smell.html
Comment icon #15 Posted by Likely Guy 9 years ago
I agree although there is more and more information being released: http://www.dailymail...trid-smell.html That link is almost two years old.
Comment icon #16 Posted by RabidMongoose 9 years ago
i don't think you can sue because i don't think criminal laws are put to action in the ocean. Plus honestly in this situation even if he did do cannibalism, well a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do. Situational murder (killing someone at see to eat or drink their blood due to starvation or thirst) is a criminal offence but one which usually gets a pardon.
Comment icon #17 Posted by Myles 9 years ago
Situational murder (killing someone at see to eat or drink their blood due to starvation or thirst) is a criminal offence but one which usually gets a pardon. Are they saying that he killed him in order to eat him? I assumed he was accused of eating him after he died.


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