On September 3, 2021, Mariely Beatríz Chacón Marroquín, her husband, and two children were among nine people who set out on a pleasure cruise aboard the Thor from Higuerote to Tortuga Island off the Caribbean coast of Venezuela. According to New York Post, during their trip, a wave struck the boat, broking its hull apart.
Independent reported people on the boat, surviving the impact, were forced to cling to lifeboats in the scorching sun for four days in a desperate effort to survive.
Marroquín was desperate to save her children’s lives, and then this mother decided the best way to do so would breastfeed them. In order to produce more milk and feed them during the harrowing ordeal, she had to consume her own urine, according to Newsweek.
Unfortunately, the mum-of-two left her life just before rescuers arrived because of suffering first-degree burns and organ failure due to dehydration in the blazing heat. Her children found were clinging to her body. Their 25-year-old nanny, Verónica Martinez, was found hunkering down in an empty icebox, seeking respite from the searing hot temperatures.
Her two children, Jose David and Maria Beatriz Camblor Chacon were taken to hospital in the capital city Caracas. They are being treated for first-degree burns, dehydration, and post-traumatic stress.
A spokesman from Venezuela’s National Institute of Aquatic Spaces said in an interview that the children made it because the mother breastfed them. She forever left behind her kids three or four hours before the rescue due to dehydration after drinking no water for three days.
Five other people who had been aboard the stricken vessel — including the father, Remis David Camblor — have not been found.
Source: https://nypost.com/2021/09/16/shipwrecked-mom-dies-after-drinking-own-urine-to-save-kids/
https://www.newsweek.com/venezuela-shipwreck-mother-saved-children-breastfeeding-1629390
