A fishing influencer was tragically found dead just days after issuing a mayday call asking for help. Authorities found his body in the ocean off the coast of Mexico.
Mikey Rijavec ran the YouTube channel "Fish and Sips." Sadly, the influencer passed away after becoming distressed. Authorities retrieved his body on Sunday, found floating near San Cristobal. The fishing influencer disappeared after making a mayday call from his boat on November 11. He had been fishing off the coast of Baja California.
According to NBC San Diego, Rijavec had been eight miles off the coast. Other fishermen responded to his call and tried to help him. The fishing influencer reported engine trouble on his boat. However, Rijavec went radio silent in the middle of the call.
Fishing Influencer Found Dead
"As difficult as it is to accept this, we are grateful that it provides us some closure. As we begin to process and reflect on what has happened over the last several days, it is clear what was at the core of the search for Mikey: love," his brother Gregory Rijavec wrote in a statement on GoFundMe.
"Everyone poured everything into finding Mikey, because whether they knew him or not, they knew a son, a brother, a friend, a fisherman, a fellow human needed help," he said.
The death of the fishing influencer comes after the US Coast Guard and Mexican Navy launched a joint effort to find him. Prior to his death, Rijavec ran a successful YouTube channel with 20,000 subscribers. He regularly posted videos of himself fishing, showing off his catches and hauls with audiences.
The death of the fishing influencer comes after authorities found his boat floating upside down miles from the coast last Thursday. Last Friday, the US Coast Guard officially suspended their search for the missing man. Friends are disturbed over the lack of details in the case.
"What could have happened? Oh my god, it's endless," Phil Friedman, a friend, said. "It could be foul play. You never know, it's something that happens at sea sometimes. It could be a whale, it could be a shark."
