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Woman Missing For 2 Yrs Found Alive Floating in Sea
Woman Missing for Two Years Found Alive Floating in Sea by Baffled Fishermen
The Sun •29 Sep 2020
A WOMAN who had been missing from her family for two years has been found floating alive in the sea by baffled fishermen.
Angelica Gaitan, 46, was found unconscious and suffering from hypothermia off the coast of Colombia.
The video shows the moment Rolando and a friend - simply identified as ‘Gustavo’ by local media in Colombia - approach the floating woman who is almost completely unresponsive.
Angelica is dragged towards the boat through a rope tied to the lifesaver which the fishermen had previously thrown towards her.
Local paper reports they had spotted what they thought was a log in the sea - before Angelica raised her hands to signal for help.
Rolando is then seen struggling to lift the unresponsive woman into the boat.
She was discovered by fisherman Rolando Visbal and a pal floating 1.2 miles off the town of Puerto Colombia on the Atlantic side of the country on Saturday.
The pair initially spotted what they believed to be a log floating in the sea until Angelica raised her hands to summon help, according to local paper La Libertad.
It reported her first words after being rescued were "I was born again, God did not want me to die."
She was brought ashore where locals tended to her before she was taken to hospital.
Angelica was then reunited with her family as investigators began piecing together where she had been since disappearing two years ago.
When she was finally able to speak, she revealed a harrowing story of fleeing her home after 20 years of violence at the hands of her partner, who she said had tried to kill her.
After living rough then being forced to leave a refuge, she decided to take her own life.
"For 20 years I had a toxic relationship,” she told RCN radio.
She fled after her partner had tried to kill her, she claimed, as she detailed her harrowing tale.
She told the local radio station: "For 20 years I had a toxic relationship, I was violated by my ex-partner.
"The abuse began in the first pregnancy, he beat me, he violently abused me.
"In my second pregnancy the abuse continued and I could not get away from him because the girls were small.
"Many times I reported it but the police took him away for 24 hours and when he was in the house again, the assaults returned.
"The day I decided to leave the house was after a brutal assault. In September 2018 he broke my face and tried to kill me. Thank God I managed to escape."
She claimed to have lived rough in the city of Barranquilla for six months.
She was then housed in a homeless shelter after seeking help but sank into a deep depression.
"I did not want to continue with my life. A lady lent me for the tickets and I took a bus directly to the sea," she said.
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