Yekaterina Aksenova, Mr Pichugin’s ex-wife, told Russian media that he had been a portly 100kg (220 pounds) when he set off on his fishing trip but by the time he was rescued, he had lost half his body weight. She said that Mr Pichugin’s belly may have saved him.
“It’s a kind of miracle,” she said because the men had only taken enough food and water to last two weeks. “The boat was reliable. He bought it specifically to go to Sakhalin to fish and for travelling.”
Ms Aksenova said that contact with the fishing party was lost shortly after they set off from one of the Shantar Islands off mainland Russia to return to the large island of Sakhalin, roughly 200 miles away, where Mr Pichugin was working as a driver.
After his rescue, Mr Pichugin was taken to the city of Magadan. Videos showed him being stretchered into a hospital and later sitting wrapped in blankets looking gaunt and sunburnt in a chair.
Yury Lednev, the chief doctor of the regional hospital, told Russian news agency RIA Novosti, that his condition was “more or less stable” but he was likely to have suffered from hypothermia.
The rescuers also brought back the bodies and the inflatable boat, which was being examined by investigators. Mr Pichugin had tied the bodies of his nephew and brother onto the side of the boat so that they wouldn’t be washed away and used their life jackets to signal for rescue.