Van Pham described bashing sea turtles with a bat as they swam near his boat and then cooking part of the meat while using the remainder as bait for seabirds.
LOS ANGELES — A 62-year-old man who survived three months adrift at sea by grilling turtles and seabirds returned to the United States on Tuesday after what one Coast Guard official called an ``amazing story of survival.''
Richard Van Pham was rescued by a Navy warship last week after he was spotted 275 miles southwest of Costa Rica. He had vanished over the summer after leaving on a sailboat trip to Santa Catalina Island, off the coast from Los Angeles.
Van Pham arrived on a flight from Guatemala and was detained until his legal residency was confirmed, said Francisco Arcaute, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
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