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Shipwrecked Mum Found Dead After Saving Children By Breastfeeding Them

Shipwrecked Mum Found Dead After Saving Children By Breastfeeding Them

Mariely Chacón, 40, was on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean with her two young kids when their vessel was hit by a wave.

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A mum in Venezuela was tragically found dead after being shipwrecked at sea, having managed to save her two children by breastfeeding them.

Mariely Chacón, 40, was on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean with her two young kids Jose David and Maria Beatriz Camblor Chacon when their vessel was destroyed by a wave.

According to Newsweek, they had been on a pleasure cruise from Higuerote to Tortuga Island, in the Venezuelan state of Miranda, with Chacón's husband Remis Clambor, the children's nanny Verónica Martinez, friends and crew.

Chacón was reportedly left adrift 70 miles out to sea with the two youngsters - aged six and two - and Martinez.

The desperate mother drank her own urine and managed to keep her children alive by breastfeeding them, while Martinez took refuge in an empty icebox.

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They were found by authorities four days later, with officials confirming that Chacón had died.

A forensic medicine source, quoted by newspaper La República, said her vital organs had collapsed because of electrolyte depletion - which had been caused by dehydration, possibly accelerated by her breastfeeding.

La República added that her father Humberto Chacón said the boat trip was 'simply a family trip to entertain the children'.

The children and Martinez were taken to hospital for treatment, but the five others who were on board - Jose Javier Marcano Narvaez, Alejandro Osorio Graterol, Vianney Carolina Dos Santos Morales and Remis David Camblor - are still missing.

Venezuela's National Maritime Authority INEA said: "On September 3 at 9.30am a pleasure boat called Thor left Higuerote for La Tortuga Island with the return scheduled for September 5.

"Port authorities were informed on September 5 around 11pm it had failed to reach its destination or returned to the location it had left from and a search operation was launched."

INEA

It added: "On September 6 at 6.20pm we were alerted to a small white vessel which was drifting off the island of La Orchila that led to the reorientation of the search operation.

"On September 7 at 2.10pm four people were rescued, two of them children, by coastguard vessel AB Carecare."

An INEA official was also quoted as saying: "The mother who died kept her children alive by breastfeeding them and drinking her own urine.

"She died three or four hours before the rescue from dehydration after drinking no water for three days."

The official said their chances of survival would have been increased greatly if the group had had a radio or GPS on board, or other security measures such as flares.

He admitted their chances of survival would have been greatly increased if the group had had a radio or GPS or other security devices including flares.

Featured Image Credit: INEA

Topics: World News, News