A man who spent 24 days lost at sea seemed to be missing again – but he has been tracked down after a massive social media hunt instigated by Heinz.
The company, famous for its ketchup, plans to buy a new boat for the sailor who spent almost a month surviving on ketchup.
Its campaign to #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy quickly went viral and Elvis Francois was traced to Dominica.
Mr Francois, 47, was swept out to sea by powerful currents in December while making repairs to his boat.
He had no food – only a bottle of tomato ketchup. He also found garlic granules and seasoning cubes, and mixed the condiments with water to give him enough energy to survive.
After his rescue, Mr Francois described how he had “lost hope” while adrift in the Caribbean Sea off Colombia.
He had to constantly scoop out water from the boat to stop it sinking and tried to light a fire to send a distress signal, but without success.
He was eventually spotted from the air after scrawling the word “help” on the hull of the boat.
Posting on Instagram about its search for Mr Francois, Heinz said it received “thousands of likes, shares, and messages of kindness”.
“It was an incredible group effort across six continents that led to the hundreds of articles and leads and our eventual contact with Elvis.”
Mr Francois had a “successful meeting” with Heinz on Zoom last Friday, according to a Facebook post from local news outlet Emonews.
Heinz has been approached for comment.
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