Missing woman spent two weeks adrift on a boat with husband’s corpse

Maria das Graças Mota Bernardo had to fight off vultures which landed on the vessel

A woman who spent a week adrift with her husband’s corpse was forced to eat raw fish to survive.

Maria das Graças Mota Bernardo had to fight off vultures which landed on the vessel.

The 68-year-old, who was on her first fishing trip with her husband, José Nilson de Souza Bernardo, also saw killer caimans in the water.

The alligator-type creatures can grow up to 4ft long and have been known to kill humans.

José fell ill and suffered a fatal heart attack at around midnight on 29 March, the first day of their excursion.

Their daughter, Cristiane told reporters: “After dinner, he went to lie down in the hammock, but the rope snapped and he was startled.

“He got up and hit his knee. He sat down again and started fanning himself, telling my mother that he was feeling hot.

“She said he then stood up, screamed, and fell over. She caught him, lifted his head, and he took his last breath.”

Cristiane’s mother then tied the canoe to the tree and went to seek help in the other boat, however, the engine suddenly stopped a short while later.

“She went to the bow and started paddling. She spent all those days paddling.”

She said: “They planned this trip for months. He wanted her to take lots of pictures. It was going to be their moment.”

(Jam Press)

Cristiane said her mother spent the first days eating raw fish and flour they had on the boat.

She added: “One day she only drank water. On another day, she only ate flour with water and drank pure lemon juice.

“On the third day, a man passed by in a rabeta, a canoe with a motor.

“She asked for help, but he didn’t give it, he just kept going.”

While adrift on the river, Maria banged pots and pans and screamed for help.

According to Maria’s daughter, she “screamed and screamed and no one answered”.

She said Maria decided to move to the other side of the boat and covered her airways with a cloth when her husband’s body started to decompose.

Cristiane stated: “She couldn’t sleep anymore. All her strength went into bringing his body home, for the family to give him a dignified burial.”

(Jam Press)

The elderly woman had to defend her husband’s body from the harsh Amazonian elements, including blistering sunshine, tropical storms, and even predatory animals.

Cristiane said: “My mum said vultures started to perch on top of the vessel.

“She hit them and they screamed. She took the tarp off the top of the awning and put it over the body because bees and mosquitoes were already sitting on his corpse.”

Cristiane also stated that caiman, mini alligators, prowled the vessel.

She said: “My mum knew she could fall into the water at any moment and she doesn’t even know how to swim.”

After being rescued and receiving medical treatment, Maria is still struggling to come to terms with her ordeal.

She was released from the hospital on 5 April.

Cristiane said: “She is shaken and weak. She can’t sleep.”

Maria and José, also 68, set off on 28 March.

A search operation was launched when they failed to arrive home.

The couple had taken two vessels with them on the trip down an Amazonian river called Rio Negro in Brazil.

They had a fishing boat and a smaller canoe for exploring flooded forests.

Worried family members alerted the authorities when they discovered the couple’s canoe tied to a tree.

Rotting fish was found inside and a net was still stretched out in the water.

On 4 April, the Brazilian Navy found the couple’s vessel adrift in Iranduba, about 100 miles (161 km) from their departure point, a week after they set off.

A Navy helicopter rescued Maria from the scene and officials administered first aid and support for the bereaved woman.

She was then flown to Manaus for medical checks.

The Amazonas State health department said Maria is receiving clinical and psychological care at this time.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian Navy confirmed that an investigation is underway.