Man Overboard — kultura.media.si

On July 9, 1993, around noon, Lotos Vincenc Šparovec, then twenty-two years old and a drama student at AGRFT, was performing maintenance work on the side of a cargo ship sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. He was wearing a blue work jumpsuit and was tethered by a rope, his only connection to the ship. This rope was the lifeline that prevented the sailor from falling overboard during work. Then, this lifeline suddenly broke, and the sailor fell into the Atlantic. At that moment, no one on the ship noticed what had happened, and the ship continued sailing. Alone in the vast blue, the sailor called for help in vain. No one heard him anymore – not on the ship, nor anywhere in the world.
It would be at least two hours before his absence was noticed on the ship. By then, the ship would be tens of miles away. And even if it turned back, who would even notice a tiny speck, a human face amidst the shimmering glare and white foam of the waves? Lotos knew this was the end. Death was no longer a hypothesis or a mystery for him. It was there, with him. The only certainty in a sea of uncertainty. And the hours passed...
WHAT DOES A YOUNG MAN THINK WHEN FACING DEATH? HOW DOES HE SAY GOODBYE WHEN NO ONE HEARS HIM? WHAT HAPPENS TO HIS MIND AND BODY?
But Lotos survived. The captain of the ship from which the sailor fell decided to turn the helm. The ship sailed back, and the alarm "Man Overboard" was sounded. His comrades scanned the water's surface with binoculars and suddenly spotted him.