Heinz finds man who survived on ketchup for 24 days at sea

Virgin Radio

1 Mar 2023, 13:37

Heinz has recently been trying to track down a man from Dominica who spent almost a month lost at sea, surviving on a bottle of ketchup. Well, now they’ve found him! 

Elvis Francois was on his boat in St Maarten in the Caribbean when he was taken out to sea by bad weather. He was rescued 700 miles from where he started, 24 days later, having survived on just a bottle of tomato ketchup combined with garlic powder, stock cubes and rainwater he collected with a cloth. He abandoned his sailboat at sea when he was picked up by a container ship.

Though a series of Instagram posts, Heinz attempted to track down the “amazing man with an amazing story” so that they could give him a new boat. They used the hashtag #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy and stated: “Heinz wants to celebrate his safe return home and help him buy a new boat… but we can’t seem to find him. So, we’re setting this message adrift into the sea of the internet, because if anyone can help us find him, it’s you.”

Yesterday, February 28th, the company shared news that they have indeed found Elvis. Taking to Instagram, they wrote: “Thank you, internet. We received thousands of likes, shares, and messages of kindness in our search to find Elvis Francois. It was an incredible group effort across six continents that led to the hundreds of articles and leads and our eventual contact with Elvis. With your help we were able to #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy.”

EmoNews, a media outlet in Dominica, shared a photo on Facebook, showing the sailor on a Zoom call with representatives from Heinz.

Commenters on the Instagram post are keen for more Elvis content. One person wrote: “We want to see when you give him the boat #heinzmagic”

Another added: “Can’t wait to see the outcome.”

Someone else agreed, saying: “Please share a photo of him with the new boat🙌.”