After 67 days adrift, a Russian man was rescued but his brother and nephew are dead

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian man was rescued in the stormy Sea of Okhotsk after surviving for more than two months in a tiny inflatable boat that lost its engine, but his brother and nephew have died, officials said Tuesday.

The prosecutor's office in the far east of Russia said that the man was rescued Monday by a fishing vessel off the Kamchatka Peninsula.

It didn't name the survivor, but Russian news reports identified him as 46-year-old Mikhail Pichugin, who in early August set on a journey to watch whales in the Sea of Okhotsk together with his 49-year-old brother and 15-year-old nephew. Their bodies were reportedly found in the boat when the Angel fishing vessel rescued Pichugin.

Media reports said the three men traveled to the Shantar Islands off the northwestern shore of the Sea of Okhotsk in early August. They went missing after setting off for Sakhalin Island from Cape Perovsky in the Khabarovsk region on Aug. 9. A rescue effort was launched but failed to locate them.

Russian media reported that the trio had a small food ration and about 20 liters (5.2 gallons) of water when their engine failed and they found themselves adrift.

Pichugin weighed about 50 kilograms (110 pounds) when he was found, having lost half of his body weight, news reports said.

When the crew of the fishing vessel spotted the tiny inflatable boat on their radar, they initially thought it was a buoy or a piece of junk, news reports said, but they turned on the spotlight to make sure and were shocked to see Pichugin.

He didn't immediately say how he managed to survive in the Sea of Okhotsk, the coldest sea in East Asia and known for its gales, and how his brother and nephew died. The crew of the ship that rescued Pichugin found their bodies tied to the boat to prevent them from being washed away by the sea, news reports said.

When Pichugin was rescued, his boat was drifting about 11 nautical miles off Kamchatka's shore, about 1,000 kilometers (about 540 nautical miles) from their departure point on the other side of the Sea of Okhotsk.

A video released by the prosecutor's office showed an emaciated man in a life jacket desperately shouting “come here!” and the crew working to pull him back to safety.

“I have no strength left,” Pichugin said as he was taken to safety.

Prosecutors said that they launched an investigation into the incident on charges of violation of safety rules that resulted in deaths.

Pichugin was rushed to an emergency care unit at the Magadan hospital. Chief doctor Yuri Lednev told reporters that he was suffering from dehydration and hypothermia but was in stable condition.

In this photo taken from video released by the official telegram channel of the Russian Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, a Russian man who spent more than two months adrift in an inflatable boat is seen before being rescued by a fishing vessel in the Okhotsk Sea near the village of Ust-Khairuzovo in Kamchatka region of Russian far east. (Official telegram channel of the Russian Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor's Office via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by the official telegram channel of the Russian Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, a Russian man who spent more than two months adrift in an inflatable boat is seen before being rescued by a fishing vessel in the Okhotsk Sea near the village of Ust-Khairuzovo in Kamchatka region of Russian far east. (Official telegram channel of the Russian Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor's Office via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, Russian emergency workers transfer Mikhail Pichugin into an ambulance ashore after he was rescued by a fishing vessel following 67 days adrift in the Sea of Okhotsk near the village of Ust-Khairuzovo in Kamchatka region of Russian far east. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, Russian emergency workers pull Mikhail Pichugin ashore after he was rescued by a fishing vessel following 67 days adrift in the Sea of Okhotsk near the village of Ust-Khairuzovo in Kamchatka region of Russian far east. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germany on Saturday was still in shock and struggling to understand the suspect behind the attack in the city of Magdeburg.

Identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A., a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist, authorities said he has been living in Germany for two decades. He was arrested on site after plowing a black BMW into a Christmas market crowded with holiday shoppers Friday evening, killing at least five people and wounding about 200 others.

Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann posted on X that he had yet to come across a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile.

Taleb’s X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He also described himself as a former Muslim.

He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”

He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum seekers.

Neumann, the terrorism expert, wrote: “After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance towards Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar."

On Saturday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters: “At this point, we can only say for sure that the perpetrator was evidently Islamophobic – we can confirm that. Everything else is a matter for further investigation and we have to wait.”

A German-based organization called Athiest Refugee Relief said the alleged attacker was not a part of the group and claimed that he made “numerous accusations and claims” against it and former board members, which it said were false.

“We distance ourselves from him in the strongest terms," the group said in a statement on its website, adding that members of Atheist Refugee Relief filed a criminal complaint against him in 2019 following “the most foul slander and verbal attacks."

An image taken from a video shows police officers arresting a suspect after car drove into a crowd at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (TNN/DPA via AP)

A person stands by flowers and candles placed outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)