Castaway's health takes turn for the worse, Mexican official says

After showing signs of improvement, Jose Salvador Alvarenga's health has deteriorated.

Alvarenga, who said he was lost at sea for 13 months, returned to a hospital Thursday to be intravenously fed, Mexican Deputy Chief of Mission and Trade Christian Clay-Mendoza said.

"Doctors say he's severely dehydrated and low on vitamins and minerals," he said.

Alvarenga, an El Salvadoran who had been living in Mexico, washed ashore on the Marshall Islands eight days ago. Earlier this week, his condition improved enough that he was released from a hospital.

Doctors said Alvarenga's limbs have started to swell, and they can't seem to keep him hydrated.

But Alvarenga did manage to leave the hospital briefly Thursday to make a few comments to the media.

Bewildered by all the cameras, he thanked the government and people of the Marshall Islands for their care and friendship. After his minute-long remark, officials whisked him back to the hospital.

Plans for Alvarenga's repatriation to El Salvador on Friday have now been postponed due toBewildered by all the cameras, he thanked the government and people of the Marshall Islands for their care and friendship. After his minute-long remark, officials whisked him back to the hospital.

Plans for Alvarenga's repatriation to El Salvador on Friday have now been postponed due to his health.

Official: His story 'is probable'

Alvarenga's claims have garnered widespread skepticism about how he could survive for 13 months adrift on the Pacific. But from what officials can tell, they have no reason to doubt him.

"The investigations into Mr. Alvarenga's story so far have been substantiated," said Phillip Muller, the Marshall Islands' foreign affairs minister Thursday.

Clay-Mendoza said Alvarenga was an undocumented worker in Mexico. But "what he has said to us about his identity, so far, has been true."

"We've had contact with his family in El Salvador, and they have corroborated his story," the Mexican official said. "Now we are trying to contact his boss at the fishing co-op he belonged to in Mexico, but so far everything he's told us has jibed. The main question now is how long was he at sea?"

Clay-Mendoza said "it's probable" Alvarenga really did get lost at sea starting in December 2012. He said the boat was reported missing in 2012.

If Alvarenga's story proves true, the trip across the Pacific would have taken him across roughly 6,600 miles (10,800 kilometers) of open ocean before ending in the Marshall Islands, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia, in the northern Pacific.

The other man

Alvarenga says he set off on a fishing trip from the port of Paredon Viejo, near Tonala, Mexico.

He said he and another man intended to spend a day trying to catch sharks, but they were blown off course by winds and then got caught in a storm, eventually losing use of their engines.

Bellarmino Rodriguez Beyz, the owner of Alvarenga's boat in Mexico, identified the fishing partner as 23-year-old Ezequiel Córdova.

Alvarenga said that four weeks into their drift, his companion died of starvation because he refused to eat raw birds and turtles. Eventually, he threw the body overboard.

"What else could I do?" Alvarenga said. his health.