'Oh God' First Words 13-Mo. Castaway Said Seeing Marshall Islands (Videos)

Seeing the Pacific Ocean’s remote Marshall Islands, after drifting 5700 miles for over 13 months, the first words the mystery castaway making news today said were, “Oh, God.”

After survivng alone for over a year and landing in a small Pacific Island nation he’d never heard of, Jose Salvador Alvarenga, 37, a fisherman who set off from Mexico in December 2012, said his first words on spotting land were: “Oh, God”.

Alvarenga’s “incredible” voyage drifting thousands of miles included surviving on turtles, birds and hand-caught sharks.

He’d just finished eating a raw bird when he saw land.

“I cried, ‘Oh God,’: he told The Telegraph. ”I got to land and had a mountain of sleep. 

“In the morning I woke up and heard a rooster and saw chickens and saw a small house. I saw two native women screaming and yelling.

“I didn’t have any clothes – I was only in my underwear and they were ripped and torn.”

While the Marshall Islands is becoming known as “Island Paradise Lost,” it was Paradise Found for the castaway.

The Marshall Islands is an island country located in the northern Pacific Ocean. The country consists of 29 atolls and 5 isolated islands. Most of the islands are just a meter or two above sea level.

“For four days I wanted to kill myself,” the mysterious castaway said. “But I couldn’t feel the desire – I didn’t want to feel the pain. I couldn’t do it.”

Asked how he survived, he said he was never bored, was rarely scared, and constantly prayed to God, though he says he does not belong to any specific religious order.

“I had my mind on God,” he said. “If I was going to die, I would be with God. So I wasn’t scared… I imagine this is an incredible story for people.”

The indigenous people on the islands have been told that, due to Global Warming, the rising water levels would result in flooding their homes and their loosing 90% of surface area to the ocean. Many were assisted to move away from their family homes of generations.

Sources: The Telegraph, CNN, YouTube

Photo: The Catsaway, IMDB