On November 2, a fishing trip turned into a tragedy off the coast of Bodega Bay, California. Jude Khammoungkhoune, 13 years old, his father, his uncle, his cousins and a family friend were victims of the raging elements. Their boat, hit by a storm, sank.
The teenager remembers the powerful waves hitting the boat, the water seeping everywhere: “My cousins were already drifting, I had to stay with my father because he knew more than me about the survival (…) And then I wanted to be with him so that we could go through this together,” he explains to our colleagues at “USA Today”.
In the Pacific Ocean, Jude and his father cling to a simple cooler that floats. The young man places himself inside but his dad ends up letting go. “My father was no longer with me, it was getting colder and colder, with more and more wind. I thought I was going to die,” says the teenager who confesses to not knowing how to swim well.
Jude thus drifted for hours, aboard his frail survival skiff. Brought ashore by the raging waves, he fortunately ended up stranded on a beach. In the early morning, he managed to reach a road where he was saved by a motorist. Taken to hospital, it was found that the boy did not suffer serious injuries. His mother, his brothers and his sister finally joined him, and found him safe and sound.
The coast guards worked for 57 hours. The body of one of Jude’s cousins was found on a beach. But the last four passengers of the stranded boat were unfortunately not spotted.
