The man now faces a $1 million lawsuit from his crewmate’s family, alleging cannibalism during their ordeal.
Man and his crewmate lost at sea for 438 days
In November 2012, Jose Salvador Alvarenga and his crewmate Ezequiel Cordoba set out on a routine two-day fishing trip off the coast of Mexico.
However, they didn’t know this trip would turn into a harrowing 438-day ordeal at sea.
The pair were hit by a violent storm that knocked them off course, destroyed their communication systems, and swept their supplies overboard.
How did the man survive at sea?
Adrift in the vast Pacific Ocean, Alvarenga and Cordoba had to catch fish and birds to survive.
They also drank rainwater and turtle blood.
Tragically, Cordoba did not make it through the ordeal.
According to Alvarenga, Cordoba died after eating a bird that had a poisonous snake in its stomach.
Before his death, Cordoba made Alvarenga promise not to eat his corpse.
Alvarenga kept Cordoba’s body with him for six days, even talking to it, before he realized he was losing his mind and threw the body overboard.
“I could see my death was going to be very, very slow,” Alvarenga later told The Telegraph.
Against all odds, Alvarenga survived the ordeal.
He was eventually washed up on the shores of the Marshall Islands in January 2014, over a year after going missing.
The family of his crewmate sues him for $1 million
However, Alvarenga’s troubles were far from over.
After his return, he faced a $1 million lawsuit from Cordoba’s family, who alleged that he had engaged in cannibalism.
Alvarenga strongly denied these claims, insisting that they had made a pact not to eat each other if one of them died.
The man’s former lawyer also sued him for $1 million
Additionally, Alvarenga’s former lawyer sued him for $1 million after he signed a book deal to recount his harrowing experience, titled “438 Days.”
The lawyer demanded 50% of the book’s royalties, claiming that Alvarenga’s story was making him “a rich man.”
Alvarenga’s new lawyer, Ricardo Cucalon, argued that the demands from Cordoba’s family and his former lawyer were part of a larger effort to pressure Alvarenga.
He claimed this effort aimed to divide the proceeds from Alvarenga’s book.
Cucalon stated that the earnings from the book were much less than people assumed.
Eventually, just only Alvarenga fully knew what happened after that.
Social media reaction
Many people on social media have shared their thoughts on this case.
Some feel bad for Alvarenga and praise his amazing survival skills.
Others question the family’s lawsuit, saying they may want to make money from his story.
I do think it very fair that any proceeds be equally divided between him and his mate’s family.
Whether he makes one million or one thousand, it should be split, one user said.
How could they even prove it, the second user commented.
I doubt he ate the other guy, that’s why their suing him, but I mean come on he was stranded for days.
Even if he did eat the other guy after he died, it’d have been that or death, the third user said.
Seem family after money.. no offense didn’t reach anything about family spending dime to find them, another wrote.