A woman, reported missing in 2018 by her family, has been found floating alive in the Caribbean Sea. She was found off a northern Colombian port town on September 26.
What We Know:
- A video shot by one of her rescuers, a fisherman named Rolando Visbal, seized the moment he and a friend saw Angélica Gaitán, floating just about two kilometers out from Puerto Colombia. The video has since gone viral.
- Visbal and his friend Gustavo were navigating to what at first they thought it was a piece of driftwood. As they approached, it turned out to be a woman who seems to be unresponsive, as she raises her hand flagging for help.
- Gaitán mentioned how happy she is to be alive and thanked God for keeping her alive.
- The brave duo is heard in the video footage calling out in Spanish and English to get the soaked woman’s attention. Sad to say, the woman, Gaitán, was not able to reply. Sources and reports say that she suffered from exhaustion and hypothermia, having been drifting for eight hours. She was taken away with a police escort.
- After Gaitán was identified, her story and the truth came to light. She mentioned her disappearance in 2018 was an effort to leave her abusive relationship with her ex-husband following a horrendous near-death attack.
- She stated to Colombian media that after she was mandated to leave a refuge recently, she decided to end her life. She had borrowed money to ride a bus to the sea and threw herself in. She was floating for eight hours prior to being found by Visbal.
- Despite her claims, the woman’s story about her disappearance was entirely denied by her daughter, who states that her father had never abused Gaitán and that her mental state is decreasing due to a previous heart attack.
Police are currently investigating the situation of the conditions that led to Gaitan’s disappearance and rescue.
