MEXICO CITY , Mexico ( CNN ) -- The Mexican navy said Wednesday that it rescued five Ecuadorians who had been adrift without supplies in a fishing boat for more than two weeks off the coast of the southern state of Chiapas . Mexican medical personel examine two of five Ecuadorians rescued at sea . Mexican authorities initiated the rescue , which occurred Tuesday , after the U.S. Coast Guard alerted them that sailors aboard a fishing boat located 45 nautical miles ( 83 km ) southeast of Port Chiapas had signaled to a passing plane that they needed help . The Mexican navy dispatched a helicopter , which located the 15-meter-long ( 49-foot-long ) vessel and carried out the rescue by air , the navy said in a news release . The five aboard identified themselves as Jaime Arturo Alaba Chavez , the 35-year-old captain ; Víctor Hugo Alaba Chavez , the 32-year-old cook ; Edison Prado Alaba , a 27-year-old sailor ; Carlos Cheme Vazquez , a 37-year-old sailor ; and Raul Contreras Vera , a 64-year-old machinist . The sailors were taken to the Naval Sanatorium of Puerto Chiapas , where doctors determined they were dehydrated . They said they had departed Costa Rica 's on May 6 but , five days later , their motor stopped working and , unable to repair it , they had been adrift and without food since . A naval patrol boat towed the boat to Puerto Chiapas , arriving there Wednesday morning . It will be inspected to rule out the possibility that it may have been used for illicit activities , the navy said .
The Mexican navy said more than two weeks that it rescued five Ecuadorians adrift at sea . Men apparently without supplies in a fishing boat for more than two weeks . Men found off the coast of the southern state of Mexico , Chiapas .