Published 15:59 IST, April 23rd 2020
Adventurous couple living on boat did not know about coronavirus outbreak for months
Elena Manighetti and Ryan Osborne who are travelling across the globe on a boat only got to know about the deadly coronavirus outbreak on March 25.
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It has now been several months since the world has been rocked with COVID-19 pandemic, but Elena Manighetti and Ryan Osborne who are travelling across the globe on a boat only got to know about the pandemic on March 25. The couple had quit jobs back in 2017, purchased a boat and decided to pursue the dream of living in waters and now run an adventure blog. However, according to international reports, after having no internet connection for 25 days, it was only when Elena and Ryan reached the Caribbean island of Bequia did they switch on their phones to learn the horrors of the global health crisis.
Apparently, Ryan was reading out news for the both of them when their “jaws dropped” to know about the coronavirus outbreak. Elena has even said that it was “hard to grasp” the severity of the pandemic at first and even compared receiving the news to “waking up from a coma”. British media reports have stated that Elena is from Lombardy in northern Italy which is also one of the most virus-stricken regions of the world. Since initially Elena nad Ryan were able to access news of only the last week, they did not get the full understanding. Reportedly after three days, when Ryan found a ten-day-old article by international news agency, Elena learned that her home town was worst-hit.
‘Truly sank in’
According to reports, Elena admitted that the entire news about world combatting the deadly coronavirus “truly sank in” when the couple saw the pictures of army trucks in front of the cemetery at Bergamo, her hometown, because the authorities had run out of space as well as coffins. She adds it was the “most shocking moment”. The couple has documented their entire adventurous life on social media along with making YouTube videos since 2017. Reportedly the reason Elena and Ryan did not receive the news from their family was before they left Manchester, they had promised to stay in touch but without mentioning any “bad news”.
According to their official blog, Elena and Ryan describe their story as, "Hi, we're Elena and Ryan. We travel around Europe on a sailboat. First, we lived and sailed on a 26ft Heavenly Twins catamaran called Kittiwake for two years.
"Now, we’ve moved onto Skua, a 37ft monohull. Skua is a Tayana 37 from 1976. We live, work, and travel on Skua full-time. We also film our sailing adventures to share what we learn along the way."
Meanwhile, after originating from China’s “wet markets”, the coronavirus has now claimed 184,248 lives worldwide as of April 23. According to the tally by international news agency, the pandemic has now spread to 210 countries and has infected at least 2,638,477 people. Out of the total infections, 721,997 have been recovered but the easily spread virus is continuing to disrupt many lives. Major cities have been put under lockdown in almost all countries and the economy is struggling.
16:08 IST, April 23rd 2020