愛犬と太平洋を２か月漂流　救助の男性、陸に戻る

【マンサニジョ（メキシコ）ＡＦＰ＝時事】太平洋で遭難し海上を約２か月漂流した末、メキシコのマグロ漁船によって救助されたオーストラリア人男性と飼い犬が１８日、メキシコに到着した。男性は集まった報道陣に、「生きていることに本当に感謝している」と述べた。（写真は太平洋でメキシコのマグロ漁船に救助されたオーストラリアのティム・シャドックさんと愛犬のベラ。漁業会社グルポマール提供）
　ティム・シャドックさん（５４）と愛犬ベラは、４月にメキシコ沿岸のラパスを双胴船で出発。フランス領ポリネシアを目指し、約６０００キロを航海する予定だった。だが荒波で船が損壊し、電子機器も故障。広大な太平洋に取り残されてしまった。
　マンサニジョ港に到着したシャドックさんは、やせ細り、ひげは伸びていた。乱れた髪を束ね、その上にシャドックさんとベラを救助した漁船を所有する水産会社のロゴ入りの赤い帽子をかぶっていた。
　シャドックさんは「命の恩人の船長と水産会社に、ただただ感謝している」と語った。
　■「体調はいい」
　しばらくの間、体調が非常に悪かったが、現在は前よりは良くなっているという。
　漂流中は雨水を飲み、生魚を食べてしのいだ。常にとても空腹を感じた。食料が尽きてからは釣りをした。
　途中で調理器具を無くしたため、「すし」ばっかりたべることになったと冗談を飛ばし、自分がいかにやせ細ってしまったかを説明した。
　シャドックさんは、海上では「何度も何度も何度も、ついていない日があった」が、いい日もあったと語った。一番苦しかったのは「疲労」だった。
　「自分の中にある幸せを見つけようとした。海に入って、水中にいることをただ楽しんだ」
　愛犬ベラとはメキシコで出会った。何度か飼ってくれる人を探したがうまくいかず、海の上までついて来たという。「ベラは私よりもずっと勇敢だった」と称賛した。ベラは船に残り、会見には姿を見せなかった。
　今は自宅に戻り、家族や友人と「ただゆっくりと過ごす」のを楽しみにしている。近い将来、再び海に出ることは「多分ない」と認めた。ただ、いつも海に出ていたので、いつまで陸にいるのかは分からないと語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/07/20-17:21）

An Australian sailor rescued with his dog after more than two months adrift in the Pacific Ocean arrived in Mexico Tuesday declaring I am so grateful. I'm alive.
Tim Shaddock was picked up with his dog Bella by a tuna vessel after the pair survived for weeks on raw fish and rainwater on their storm-crippled boat.
He arrived Tuesday at the Mexican port of Manzanillo, thin, with a bushy beard and wild hair bunched into a red cap sporting a logo of fishing company Grupomar, whose vessel had come to his rescue.
To the captain and this fishing company that saved my life, I mean, what do you say? I'm just so grateful, Shaddock told waiting reporters.
I'm alive... I really didn't think I'd make it, you know? So thank you, thank you so much.
Shaddock, who according to Grupomar is 54 years old, and Bella had set off from Mexico's seaside city of La Paz in April, and planned to sail about 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) before dropping anchor in tropical French Polynesia.
But they soon found themselves stranded after rough seas damaged the vessel, which he described as a French Polynesian traditional boat named Aloha Toa, and knocked out its electronics.
In an unlikely rescue reminiscent of the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away, the bedraggled amateur yachtsman was plucked from the water more than two months later by a Mexican tuna trawler, more than 1,200 miles from land according to Grupomar.
- 'Feeling alright' -
On Tuesday, Shaddock told reporters he was feeling alright. A little better than I was.
He said his health was pretty bad for a while, I was pretty hungry.
Patiently taking one question after another, smiling and emotional at times, Shaddock said he did a lot of fishing, especially after his provisions ran out.
But he lost his cooking utensils along the way, so it was a lot of chewing of 'sushi', he joked, and pointed out how skinny he had become.
Shaddock recounted there were many, many, many bad days at sea, but also good ones.
The fatigue is the hardest part, you're always fixing something, he said of the ordeal.
I would try and find the happiness inside myself, and I found that a lot alone at sea. I would go in the water too, and just enjoy being in the water.
- 'Life is beautiful' -
The sailor had nothing but praise for Bella, whom he had found in Mexico.
She just kept following me onto the water, he said of adopting the dog after several failed attempts to get her another home.
She's amazing. That dog is something else, he laughed. I'm just grateful she's alive. She is a lot braver than I am.
Bella did not join Shaddock for the press conference, having remained on board the Grupomar vessel.
Shaddock said he looked forward to getting home to family and friends and to just take it easy.
He would probably not head out to sea again in the near future, he admitted.
I'll always be in the water, he said, though I don't know how far out in the ocean I'll be.
For Grupomar boss Antonio Suarez, the rescue was proof that life is beautiful.
We were responsible for saving the life of a human being and the little dog that accompanied him, he told reporters.
We have medical services on our vessels. He fell into good hands.
Suarez said the boat that picked up the pair was the oldest in the company's fleet and the trip that saved Shaddock's life would likely be its last.