Surviving for 10 days in the Sahara Desert - The story of Mauro Prosperi — Transcript

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1. 0:00Marathon a type of race that many
2. 0:02athletes only dream of completing it's a
3. 0:05race covering a distance of 26 miles
4. 0:08if you were to walk the cars non-stop it
5. 0:10would take approximately 7 hours to
6. 0:12finish the average for those who run it
7. 0:14is 4 hours and 20 minutes it requires a
8. 0:17lot of preparation amounts of training
9. 0:19and dedication to be done
10. 0:29and then there is the marathon de Sable
11. 0:32the marathon of the Sands and despite
12. 0:35its name it's not a typical marathon in
13. 0:38fact it spans six days of competition a
14. 0:40distance of nearly six marathons and is
15. 0:43conducted in the middle of the Sahara
16. 0:44Desert essentially you face one Marathon
17. 0:47a day in the middle of the desert Only
18. 0:50the strongest and most mentally and
19. 0:52physically resilient managed to finish
20. 0:54the race and Mauro Prosperity was
21. 0:56certainly one of those people
22. 0:59but that race was nothing compared to
23. 1:01the hell he would go through after an
24. 1:03accident
25. 1:06and today we're going to talk about the
26. 1:08incredible Survival Story of Maura
27. 1:10Prosperity an Italian ready to face
28. 1:12absolutely everything to surpass himself
29. 1:14and reach his limit if you like this
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33. 1:21videos now let's get to the video model
34. 1:24Prosperity worked as a crowd control
35. 1:25police officer in Italy and competed as
36. 1:28a 10th athlete he was an extremely
37. 1:30optimistic and competitive person one
38. 1:32day his friend Giovanni Manzo proposed
39. 1:34that they run the ultra marathon
40. 1:36together Prosperity saw that as a
41. 1:38challenge and began to do daily Marathon
42. 1:40runs and then take less water for them
43. 1:43as a way to train for the race if he
44. 1:45were to run it would be to win not just
45. 1:47to finish the race the year was 1994 and
46. 1:51prosperity was 39 years old
47. 1:54the competitors had to race with a
48. 1:56backpack equipped on their backs
49. 1:57containing food clothes sleeping bag
50. 1:59Compass portable stove and emergency kit
51. 2:02water was offered at bases along the
52. 2:05race route it was him and his friend
53. 2:07against 78 other people
54. 2:10and the race began
55. 2:13holidays usually has about 1 300
56. 2:17competitors and has a huge single file
57. 2:19with one competitor behind the other but
58. 2:21at that time things were different
59. 2:24as there were few people in the race he
60. 2:26will do most of it isolated from the
61. 2:28other participants
62. 2:29prosperity and the others faced wind
63. 2:31fatigue heat and sand
64. 2:34but Prosperity was there to win and at
65. 2:37one point he left his friend Giovanni
66. 2:38behind to gain positions in the race
67. 2:40there was a moment when there were only
68. 2:43three other competitors ahead of him
69. 2:45Prosperity then decided to run over some
70. 2:47small Dunes to increase his speed and it
71. 2:50was at this time that his hell began
72. 2:55very strong winds started to blow and
73. 2:57the sand covered his eyes Mauro
74. 2:59Prosperity had entered a sandstorm if he
75. 3:02stayed still he might have been buried
76. 3:04by all that sand
77. 3:06at that moment he was in seventh place
78. 3:10if you wanted to maintain his position
79. 3:12he should continue running forward not
80. 3:14back where the other Runners were
81. 3:17and that was his biggest mistake his
82. 3:20throat burned and his nose bled because
83. 3:22of the sand but he couldn't stop
84. 3:25so he ran hoping that the storm would
85. 3:27pass soon but this didn't happen
86. 3:30foreign
87. 3:31[Music]
88. 3:32hours of continuous storm the Italian
89. 3:35thought he was on the correct race route
90. 3:37which would be seen by a trail but after
91. 3:40some time he realized he was lost the
92. 3:43next day he continued to run he thought
93. 3:45he would be near other competitors and
94. 3:47went to high Dune but he couldn't see
95. 3:49anything no Trail no people his water
96. 3:53was running out so he decided to urinate
97. 3:56in his plastic bottle in case the
98. 3:58situation got even worse the
99. 4:00organization said that if you got lost
100. 4:02you should stand still and wait for a
101. 4:04rescue and that's what Prosperity
102. 4:05decided to do
103. 4:09still a helicopter appeared Prosperity
104. 4:12then used his flare but the helicopter
105. 4:14simply didn't see him and continued
106. 4:16ahead
107. 4:19to win that strong and confident man
108. 4:22began to falter the next day he decided
109. 4:25to walk to find shelter water or people
110. 4:28who could help him that's when he found
111. 4:30a Marymount a Muslim Shrine but there
112. 4:33was no one there just a coffin with the
113. 4:35corpse
114. 4:36it was still better than nothing and
115. 4:38prosperity decided to stay there for
116. 4:40shelter
117. 4:41days passed and nothing he ate what was
118. 4:44left of his belongings and drank the
119. 4:46rest of his urine he put Italian flag at
120. 4:49the top of the tower so that anyone
121. 4:50passing by could see him
122. 4:52but nothing happened
123. 4:54and if he didn't do anything about it
124. 4:56thirst would end up killing him
125. 4:59that's when he saw some bats inside the
126. 5:02mare about at some point I saw some bats
127. 5:05and I ate them raw I realized I was
128. 5:08becoming a caveman
129. 5:11Prosperity ate everything that was
130. 5:13available bats bird eggs beetles and
131. 5:16lizards
132. 5:19four days passed since he got lost and a
133. 5:21plane flew over where he was Prosperity
134. 5:24wrote SOS in the sand and made a fire
135. 5:26with whatever he could to attract
136. 5:28attention but another sandstorm happened
137. 5:31which meant he was not seen
138. 5:33[Music]
139. 5:35by this point his wife family and
140. 5:38friends were worried and rescue teams
141. 5:40were looking for Mauro but couldn't find
142. 5:42him
143. 5:43too many he should already be dead four
144. 5:45days are usually more than enough for a
145. 5:48person lost in the desert to die
146. 5:51and even with all his resilience and
147. 5:53optimism Mauro Prosperity decided there
148. 5:56was no more hope
149. 5:59if you were to walk again in the desert
150. 6:01and ended up dying there his body would
151. 6:03be swallowed by the Sands and he would
152. 6:05be considered missing and under these
153. 6:07conditions his family would not receive
154. 6:09pension from the Italian government but
155. 6:12if he was found they would at night he
156. 6:14wrote a message on a temple wall asking
157. 6:16his family for forgiveness
158. 6:18and cut his wrists
159. 6:20this was the end
160. 6:24but death still didn't want the Italian
161. 6:26it was not his time yet he was so
162. 6:30dehydrated that the blood did not flow
163. 6:32from his cut wrists and tomorrow this
164. 6:35was a sign that he could not give up in
165. 6:37that way
166. 6:38so he decided to leave the temple and
167. 6:41walk again through the desert
168. 6:43he walked only when the temperature was
169. 6:45cool in the morning and late afternoon
170. 6:47to conserve as much energy as possible
171. 6:49he ate the small creatures he came
172. 6:51across and bring the sap from Plants he
173. 6:53found that's all he could do and then he
174. 6:56found water was it a mirage was he so
175. 6:59affected by his situation that he
176. 7:01started to hallucinate but no it was
177. 7:04indeed water the Italian pentathlete had
178. 7:06found an oasis
179. 7:09he laid down next to the Oasis water
180. 7:11source and spent hours slowly drinking
181. 7:14the water it was undoubtedly the best
182. 7:16thing that happened to him in over a
183. 7:18week but he was not safe yet he needed
184. 7:21to keep walking after rehydrating
185. 7:25he needed a medical care due to what his
186. 7:26body had undergone in the past few days
187. 7:30Oasis are a Divine sign for those lost
188. 7:33in the desert not only because they have
189. 7:35water but also because animals and
190. 7:37people in desert regions tend to stay
191. 7:39close to these few regions with water
192. 7:41[Music]
193. 7:44after some time walking Mauro Prosperity
194. 7:47found fresh goat droppings
195. 7:49some more time and he found a little
196. 7:51girl who ran away in a panic
197. 7:53the Italian looked terrible extremely
198. 7:56thin and wary the women from the girls
199. 7:59Village came to him they were tourags a
200. 8:02group of desert Nomads the men were out
201. 8:05of the community and the women gave him
202. 8:06shelter drink and food
203. 8:08but his body was so damaged that he
204. 8:10couldn't eat
205. 8:12but he would finally be saved he would
206. 8:15be able to see his family again
207. 8:18and then
208. 8:19armed man arrived of course none of them
209. 8:22spoke Italian and Mauro couldn't
210. 8:24communicate with them
211. 8:27they pointed their guns at a runner and
212. 8:29blindfolded his eyes
213. 8:31how ironic fate is after everything he
214. 8:34had been true that would be his end near
215. 8:37people water and food this was one of
216. 8:40the most terrifying moments of
217. 8:41prosperous life he would later say he
218. 8:44didn't know what they were going to do
219. 8:45with him and then they took the athlete
220. 8:47to a military base to be interrogated
221. 8:49they were Algerian soldiers and they
222. 8:52thought Morrow was a Moroccan spy
223. 8:54there's the treatment he received from
224. 8:56those men obviously wasn't one of the
225. 8:59best he ever had
226. 9:00but after some time they realized that a
227. 9:03supposed spy with whom they couldn't
228. 9:04communicate was actually the runner who
229. 9:06had a garden lost
230. 9:09the government was informed and Mauro
231. 9:11Prosperity would finally be safe he
232. 9:13would be able to do what he was sure he
233. 9:16would never be able to do again see his
234. 9:18friends again and do all the things he
235. 9:20liked to do
236. 9:22he could return to his normal Life to
237. 9:24Live Another Day
238. 9:25[Music]
239. 9:27in that situation most people would have
240. 9:30succumbed mentally or physically but not
241. 9:32Mauro as bad as the situation was he did
242. 9:35what was necessary to survive and within
243. 9:37his immense bad luck of getting lost in
244. 9:39the race he had immense Good Fortune to
245. 9:42have come out alive at the end of it all
246. 9:46Prosperity stayed in a Nigerian hospital
247. 9:48for seven days when he was transferred
248. 9:50to Rome to be treated there
249. 9:53started at this point here in Morocco
250. 9:57and this was the finish line
251. 10:00and Mauro Prosperity ended up here he
252. 10:03had gone so far that he ended up in
253. 10:05another country several miles away
254. 10:08at the end of all of this he lost 15
255. 10:10kilos and had serious damage to his
256. 10:13liver and kidneys having spent 10 days
257. 10:15in the desert in total it took more than
258. 10:18a year to recover and after that he
259. 10:20decided to do what practically no one
260. 10:22would
261. 10:24he returned to the same race the
262. 10:26marathon de Sable in other editions
263. 10:28participating in six more editions of it
264. 10:30I feel a connection there I love the
265. 10:33clarity and you know the Sahara Desert
266. 10:36saved my life those days in the desert
267. 10:38were my happiest days
268. 10:42is 68 years old and no longer does this
269. 10:45type of competition he wrote a book in
270. 10:472020 telling his Survivor experiences in
271. 10:49the desert wait die
272. 10:51those 10 days Beyond life some say that
273. 10:55his reports are exaggerated but there is
274. 10:57no denying that maora Prosperity went
275. 10:59through very difficult situations and he
276. 11:01really almost died alone in the middle
277. 11:03of the Sahara Desert and what about you
278. 11:06how would you have acted in his place
279. 11:08tell us in the comments of this video my
280. 11:10name is Alex backman and I see you next
281. 11:13time