Shark Saves Man Lost At Sea For 15 Weeks

According to The Daily Mail, Teitoi and his brother-in-law Ielu Falaile were initially travelling from South Tarawa in Kritibati back home, which was just two hours away. Having become tired from fishing and travelling, the duo fell asleep. Upon waking up, they realized they had been sent adrift in the ocean, ran out of fuel and had no clue how to get home.

After five weeks passed, Falaile died of dehydration while Teito, 41, struggled for his life.

"We had plenty of food and we could catch fish, but the problem was there was nothing to drink," Teito told The Daily Mail.

Ten more weeks passed and Teito was growing weaker. One day, he was awoken by a a six-foot shark outside of his boat, which ended up saving his life

"Just as I was giving up all hope of being rescued after one boat had passed me by in the distance something very strange happened," Teitoi said. "I was cowering from the sun under a piece of cloth I had stretched across the front of the boat when I felt a big bump, followed by some scratching."

According to Teitoi, had the shark not woken him up, he would have never saw the nearby ship and slept through the whole thing.

"If that shark hadn't nudged me awake the crew of the boat might have thought I wasn't in trouble and might have carried on sailing past me," he admits.

He was eventually rescued, thanks to the shark's guidance, and was brought ashore to the Marshall Islands.

"I'm flying home," Teitoi said in retrospect. "I'll never go by boat again."