A Russian man may have survived for two months drifting in an inflatable boat in the Pacific Ocean because he was so fat, his ex-wife has said.

Mikhail Pichugin was rescued by fishermen on a trawler called “Angel” on Monday evening after a 66-day ordeal that killed his brother and his nephew.

A video of his rescue off Russia’s far east coast showed the 46-year-old looking disoriented and weak.

“I don’t have much strength,” he said as he bobbed up and down in his grey inflatable boat on the Sea of Okhotsk. A red makeshift flag fluttered behind him.

In the video, the fishermen throw Mr Pichugin a rope and haul him to safety. The bodies of his brother Sergei, 49, and nephew Ilya, 15, were still on the boat.