Castaway 'survived a year adrift drinking turtle blood'

A fisherman has been pictured for the first time after spending what he claims was a year adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

Jose Salvador Albarengo, originally from El Salvador, said he had survived by drinking turtle blood and catching fish and birds with his bare hands.

The 37-year-old told officials he had set sail on a shark fishing trip in December 2012 from Mexico, 10,000km (6,200 miles) away, but was blown out to sea.

The castaway claimed to have set sail in December 2012 (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Jose Salvador Albarengo waved to onlookers as he arrived in the capital of the Marshall Islands (Picture: AFP/Getty)

He washed ashore on a remote coral atoll in the Marshall Islands in his 7.3m (22ft) fibreglass boat.

The first photographs of the fisherman show him with a bushy beard and smiling and waving at onlookers in the capital Majuro.

‘He"s having trouble walking, his legs are very skinny," said locally-based film-maker Jack Niedenthal, who had spoken to Mr Albarengo through an interpreter.

Officials are trying to verify elements of the story (Picture: AFP/Getty)

‘I"m not ready to call this a hoax, I think this guy has done some serious time at sea."

The US ambassador to the Marshall Islands, Tom Armbruster, added: ‘It was supposed to be a one-day fishing expedition but they were blown off course by the northe winds."

The castaway is currently receiving medical checks, while authorities are examining claims a teenage fisherman died during the same trip, and contacting the families involved.