Boater rescued in Pacific Ocean 0:51 (CNN) — A Brazilian man reportedly survived 11 days in the Atlantic Ocean last month, taking refuge inside a freezer after his boat capsized, according to Record TV. CNN affiliate. The man, Romualdo Macedo Rodrigues, is a fisherman. During a fishing trip in early August that was supposed to last three days, cracks in his boat began to fill with water, sinking the boat off the coast of northern Brazil. He was able to jump into the floating cooler to stay alive, and was found 11 days later by a group of fishermen off the coast of Suriname. According to Record TV, he was treated at a hospital in Suriname and detained by the authorities for a few days because he did not have the proper documentation. He now he is back in Brazil. “I was born again. I thought I wouldn’t tell this story, but I’m back here,” he added. “I was desperate. I thought my end was near. But thank God, God gave me one more chance,” Rodrigues told Record TV. “I saw that (the freezer) wasn’t sinking. I jumped (into it), it fell to the side and it stayed normal.” The fisherman says that he can’t swim. “The sharks were surrounding the freezer, but they left. I thought (they would attack me). I stayed on top (of the freezer), I didn’t sleep, I didn’t sleep. I saw the sunrise, the sunset, asking God to send someone to rescue me.” Eventually the water started to creep into the freezer and he says he used his hand to get it out. He had no food or water. “I was thinking about my children, my wife. Every day I thought of my mom, my dad, my whole family. He gave me strength and hope… but at the time I thought there was no other way,” he said. he told Record TV. When the fishermen arrived, he said, “I heard a noise and there was a boat on top of the freezer. They just thought no one was there. Then they slowly stopped, my vision was already fading, so I said, ‘Oh my God, the boat.’ arms and asked for help. Rodrigues was thankful to survive. “That freezer was God in my life. The only thing he had was the freezer. It was a miracle.”