Italian policeman survived 9 days in Sahara, ate bats and snakes

He ended up in real hell. To survive, he ate the insides and blood of bats, and then decided to commit suicide. RIA Novosti tells the incredible story of the rescue of a policeman who went mad from athletics.

Gave an address for sending his own body

"I wrote a note to my wife, and then cut my veins. I lay down and waited for death, but the blood thickened so much that it did not flow. The next morning I woke up. I did not manage to commit suicide," recalls Mauro Prosperi. An Italian marathon runner, whose story is more like fiction. But it is the absolute truth.

Prosperi is a policeman by profession, and a fan of athletics in his free time. In 1994, he decided to go to the Sahara Desert and take part in the crazy Marathon Des Sables. The distance is about 250 kilometers, which takes about six days to complete. This is almost six classic marathons, but only in inhuman conditions.

© AP Photo / Mosa'ab ElshamyParticipants of the Marathon Des Sables

© AP Photo / Mosa'ab Elshamy

Participants of the Marathon Des Sables

His wife considered him crazy and tried to dissuade him from going to Morocco for a long time. But in the end, she resigned herself and gave her consent. Prosperi was not bothered by the fact that the organizers required to sign a document with the address where the body would be sent in case of death. In those days, Des Sables was not as popular as it is today; only 80 people registered for the competition.

Charmed by the beauty of the Sahara, Prosperi started successfully. The first three days went almost according to plan; in the general classification, Mauro was in fourth place. And then a severe sandstorm began: "A terrifying wind rose. I was engulfed by a yellow wall of sand. I was blinded, I couldn't breathe. The sand whipped my face like needles."

The bad weather lasted about eight hours. Prosperi was not scared by the storm itself. All his thoughts were occupied only with переживаниями about the time lost because of it. But when the wind subsided, he realized that there were other problems. The landscape had changed beyond recognition, and the map with landmarks had become a useless piece of paper. Mauro decided that he would move by compass and in any case would meet someone from the participants. But he was wrong.

Prepared rations on his own urine

After some time, Prosperi realized that he was truly lost. Having overcome a slight panic attack, he remembered his grandfather's instructions, a veteran, and just in case, urinated into an empty water bottle. He decided to move only at night to avoid losing moisture from his body due to the heat. On the second day, Mauro heard a helicopter flying by, but the pilot did not notice the signal flare he had launched.

But he continued to believe in salvation: "I remained calm because I was convinced that the organizers would have the resources to find anyone who got lost in the desert."

A couple of days later, Prosperi stumbled upon an abandoned marabout, where a Muslim hermit had once been buried. "At least I had a roof over my head. I assessed my situation: it was not rosy, but physically I felt fine. I ate part of my rations, which I had prepared with fresh urine," said Mauro.

© social networks Mauro ProsperiMarabout in the Sahara Desert, where Mauro Prosperi took refuge

© social networks Mauro Prosperi

Marabout in the Sahara Desert, where Mauro Prosperi took refuge

The abandoned tomb did not bring him salvation, but under the roof he met a flock of bats. Prosperi easily caught a few and drank their blood: "I ate at least 20 of them raw. I did what they do with their prey." Then he stayed in the marabout waiting for rescuers. To attract attention, he hung an Italian flag on the roof.

But help never came. After three days, an airplane appeared in the sky, but it also did not notice the lost marathon runner. Mauro was overcome by severe depression. It seemed to him that he had missed his last chance. He was depressed by the thought that if his body was not found, his wife would not be able to receive her police pension for the next ten years. Gradually, he came to terms with the idea that death was inevitable, so he took extreme measures - suicide.

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"I was not afraid of death, and my decision to commit suicide was dictated by logical reasoning, not despair," explained Prosperi. But due to changes in his body and thickened blood, the attempt failed. - I took it as a sign. Confidence returned to me, and I decided to consider it a new competition with myself."

© AP Photo / Mosa'ab ElshamyParticipants of the Marathon Des Sables

© AP Photo / Mosa'ab Elshamy

Participants of the Marathon Des Sables

"It seemed the Berbers would kill me"

Mauro pulled himself together and set off. Remembering the advice of the Tuaregs, received before the start of the marathon, he headed towards the clouds, which are visible only at dawn. Wandering in the desert lasted several days. The food supply had already run out by then, so Prosperi's diet included lizards, snakes, and insects. "A caveman woke up in me," he admitted. The lack of moisture was somewhat replenished by the juice of cacti, which he found in the beds of dried-up rivers.

After nine days of wandering, he stumbled upon an oasis, and then discovered traces of human habitation – a herd of goats. The shepherdess, seeing Mauro, got scared and ran away: "After nine days in the desert, I must have looked terrible, covered in dirt." But later she returned and took Prosperi to a Berber tent. The hosts fed the marathon runner and then handed him over to the police.

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"They took me to their military base blindfolded because they didn't know who I was. They thought I might be dangerous. They had weapons, and at times it seemed to me that they were going to kill me. When they found out that I was the marathon runner who got lost in Morocco, they took the blindfold off my eyes," said the Italian.

As it turned out, he deviated from the course by 291 kilometers and crossed the border into Algeria. Prosperi's weight was only 45 kilograms, and it took almost two years to restore his body. Four years later, he returned to Morocco and started the marathon that almost cost him his life.