Shipwrecked fisherman floated in the Pacific Ocean for 2 days by clinging to a foam icebox

Salazar Solano shows his injuries to his arms and body after surviving for two days in the Pacific Ocean by clinging to a Styrofoam ice box until the Colombian Navy plucked him from the water

A shipwrecked fisherman who miraculously survived in the Pacific Ocean by clinging
to a foam icebox for two days has revealed how he was just minutes from drowning
when he was rescued.

Father-of-five Salazar Solano was plucked from the water in a 'terrible' state by the Colombian Navy some 20 miles off the coast after his small fishing boat capsized.

He spent the two freezing nights clutching the cover of a Styrofoam drinks cooler after deciding not to take lifejackets apparently because they were deemed too expensive
and unnecessary.

Speaking to MailOnline while recovering at home in his fishing village of
Bocagrande, Mr Solano says his entire body aches and still feels seasick,
but is thrilled to be alive.

'I was about to die,' he said. 'I couldn't hold out any longer.'

The 47-year-old and a friend, Tomás Contreras, set sail from the town of Lopez
 in the south of the country on Friday, October 31, but came into difficulties in
stormy conditions.

By 1am on Saturday, Mr Solano and Mr Contreras hauled up their nets and filled
 the ice box with red snapper. 

But then the 22ft-long fibreglass boat began filling with water due to high waves
 and, possibly, a leak.

The two men tried to bail out the water, but it came in even faster and the boat
sagged to one side.

They tried to jerry-rig a sail out of a tarp to catch the wind and right the boat, but it was too late.

Mr Solano had bothered to take a lifejacket because he felt he was a very good swimmer.

Alexis Bonilla, another fisherman from Bocagrande, also said hardly anyone in the village owns a lifejacket because they are expensive and – when all goes well - unnecessary. 

Instead, Mr Solano grabbed the cover of the Styrofoam ice box, broke in in two, gave one piece to Mr Contreras and clung to the other.  

Incredible: Video footage released by the Colombian Navy captures the exact moment sailors spotted Mr Solano floating in the open ocean tied to the buoyant icebox

He also removed his belt and, with a flashlight, fashioned himself a headlamp. 
Then the boat went down.

At that time, they were only a few miles off the coast but, in the dark, they couldn't
 get their bearings to swim in the right direction. 

By sunrise on Saturday, they realised they were going the wrong way.

'The current kept taking us farther out to sea,' Solano said. 'We could no longer 
see the shore. We were both swimming and both getting tired.'

The Colombian Navy has an emergency telephone line for such cases. 

Its vessels are constantly patrolling the Pacific coast often in search of drug traffickers 
who move cocaine to Central America and Mexico in fast boats and even homemade submarines. 

This coastal region is remote and nearly road-less thus people get around on 
ferries, speed boats and canoes. 

Salazar Solano, 47, survived two nights in the open ocean by clinging to a Styrofoam icebox

Mr Solano was rushed back to short and taken to hospital, but despite his near-death ordeal, was found to be suffering from nothing but dehydration. He is expected to make a full recovery

When motors break down or vessels run aground, the Navy is often called in to
 pick up marooned passengers.

But Mr Solano and Mr Contreras had told family members that they expected to
 return home late Sunday, so no-one in Bocagrande thought to call the Navy's 
rescue line.

By Sunday morning, with Mr Contreras growing weaker, the two men drifted apart 
and Mr Solano lost track of his fishing partner. 

Now 22 nautical miles off shore, he prepared for the end.

'My life was nothing,' Mr Solano said. 'What mattered to me was my family'.

By sheer coincidence, the Colombian Navy's ARC Nariño corvette was at that 
moment plowing through the sea nearby. 

Just before midday, the ship's spotters, who are on deck 24 hours a day, in part, 
to avoid accidents with tiny fishing boats, spied something suspicious floating in 
the water.

Solano saw the Naval vessel and started yelling.

'The ship was not on a mission to look for him,' says Lt. José Dominguez, a Navy
 press officer. 

'It was out patrolling, doing normal operations like looking for drug boats. It was 
almost a miracle that we found him.'

Incredible video footage released by the Colombian Navy captures the exact
 moment sailors spotted Mr Solano floating in the open ocean. Sailors tossed
 him a flotation device, but by that point he was too weak to swim for it.

A Navy diver jumped in to help the bedraggled castaway who was still grasping 
the ice box cover. 

Clad in a T-shirt, green short and his homemade headlamp, the exhausted 
survivor was hoisted aboard on a stretcher.

'He was in terrible condition,' said Captain Orlando Cubillos, the ship's commander.
 'We got there just in time.'

Solano was taken to a Navy hospital and treated for dehydration and sunburn. 
Then, he caught a boat back to Bocagrande where villagers had no idea he'd 
almost died.

It was a bittersweet homecoming because Contreras is still missing. Solano, 
who is taking antibiotics, remains weak but is expected to recover.

'Fishing is his life,' said Lt. Dominguez, of the by-the-book Navy, who frowns at 
Solano's disregard for safety but marvels at his resourcefulness. 'He is a sea
 wolf.'

Solano's story has captivated Colombia where maritime lore is rife with 
miraculous tales of survival.

The most famous incident involved the sinking of a Navy ship overloaded 
with contraband and its sole survivor, a sailor who climbed aboard a life raft
 then fought off thirst, sharks and the blazing sun for the next 10 days. 

Published in 1955 in daily newspaper installments, 'The Story of a 
Shipwrecked Sailor' was written by an aspiring Colombian novelist named
 Gabriel García Márquez.

Culled from DAILY MAIL