Woman tagged dead in storm turns up alive after 3 nights at sea with no food, water

TUGUEGARAO CITY—A 47-year-old woman reported to have drowned at the height of Typhoon Falcon in Cagayan province turned up alive on Friday (July 19), surviving for three nights at sea off the town of Aparri by clinging to driftwood.

On July 16, the boat carrying Judith Berbano and her husband capsized on the Abulug River, separating the couple who had been collecting pieces of wood floating on the water just as Falcon battered the province.

Berbano said she held on to a piece of log and clambered atop a flat board as strong currents drew her to the sea. She had been listed as missing by the provincial disaster risk reduction management council and was nearly given up for dead.

Her husband, who was not named in the report, managed to swim to safety toward the riverbank.

Fishermen found Berbano near the Aparri shoreline and brought her to the hospital where she was treated for severe dehydration.

“God helped me survive the sea without food and water,” she told Cagayan officials. VILLAMOR VISAYA JR./tsb