After a viral campaign to find the ketchup man from the boat, Heinz has tracked down the man who survived the ketchup for 24 days while lost at sea – and plans to buy him a new boat.
by Josephine Franks, Sky News correspondent @employee
Wed Mar 1, 2023 1:15pm UK
The man who spent 24 days at sea appears missing again – but has been found after an intense social media manhunt launched by Haynes.
The company, known for making ketchup, is planning to buy a new boat for Sailor spent nearly a month eating ketchup.
His #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy campaign quickly went viral and Elvis François was tracked down in Dominica.
Mr. François, 47, was swept out to sea by strong currents in December while making repairs to his boat.
He had nothing to eat – only a bottle of ketchup. He also found garlic granules and spice cubes and mixed the spices with water to give him enough energy to survive.
After his rescue, Mr. François described how he “gave hope” as he drifted in the Caribbean Sea off Colombia.
He had to constantly draw water from the boat to prevent it from sinking and tried to light a fire to send a distress signal, but to no avail.
He was eventually spotted from the air after writing the word “help” on the boat’s hull.
Posting her search for Mr Francois on Instagram, Haynes said she had received “thousands of likes, shares and messages of kindness”.
“It was an amazing team effort across six continents that resulted in hundreds of articles, leads, and our eventual connection to Elvis.”
François had a “successful meeting” with Heinz over Zoom last Friday, according to a Facebook post from local outlet Emonews.
Heinz has been contacted for comment.
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