Spotting an opportunity to change someone’s life and nab some pretty stunning publicity in the process, Heinz is looking to get in contact with a Dominican sailor who survived four weeks adrift at sea with little more sustenance than a bottle of ketchup.
The company wants to give the man a new boat with state-of-the-art navigation systems so as to avoid any future ordeals of this type. Elvis Francois was out on his boat off the coast of St Maarten when the weather turned and started carrying him out into the open ocean.
“I tried to [go] back to port, but I lost track because it took me a while to mount the sail and fix the sail,” he said. “…I call my friends, my coworkers. They tried to contact me, but they lost service. There was nothing else I could do than sit down and wait.”
So Francois wrote ‘Help’ on the back of his boat and waited to see what happened with nothing more to eat other than a packet of garlic seasoning, a bottle of ketchup, and his lunch that day of Maggi soup.
He was rescued by the Colombian navy, who brought him back to Cartagena for a medical examination that found he was “in good health.”
Heinz has put out a digital message in a bottle to try and contact Francois, to whom they would like to gift a new boat “equipped with full navigational technology to avoid another disaster in the future,” the company told CBS news.
“We’re hoping to spread the word far and wide so Heinz can finally gift the new boat to Elvis,” the company said.
So far they’ve contacted the government of Dominica where he lives, and the Colombian Navy, but currently have had no luck.
“We’re setting this message adrift into the sea of the internet, because if anyone can help us find him, it’s you,” the company said. “If you or anyone you know can help us get in contact with Elvis Francois, please drop us a DM.”
KNOW Anyone From Dominica? Pass Along This Story And Help Francois Get His New Boat!…
