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The amazing story of a couple who survived 117 days adrift on a raft in mid Pacific after befriending sea creatures has been made into a film.

Their adventure has been dubbed the “real-life Life of Pi” following the 2012 movie in which a shipwrecked boy is inspired to live by a stowaway tiger.

Disaster struck Maurice and Maralyn Bailey on their 1972 trip from Southampton to New Zealand when their 31-ft yacht hit a whale and sank.

With little food, and relying on rainfall when water ran out, they had to turn to sea creatures to survive, catching turtles and birds and using safety pins to hook fish.

Yet despite this, hundreds of friendly animals approached the rubber raft, inc­­luding dolphins, sharks and whales.

(Image: Alvaro Cerezo/Mercury Press)

Filmmaker Alvaro Cerezo said: “Their story reminded me of Life of Pi.

"It felt like a fable where animals are the lead actors and ‘never lose hope’ is the moral.”

In the film, Maurice, who died last Dec­­­­­ember, says: “After so many months with them, we felt just like sea creatures ourselves.

"The sea was our life, the animals were our neighbours.”

After 16 weeks the pair, both three stone lighter, were rescued by Korean fishermen after drifting 1,500 miles.

(Image: Alvaro Cerezo/Mercury Press)

(Image: Alvaro Cerezo/Mercury Press)

Their adventure was turned into the book 117 Days Adrift. But over time the story was forgotten and after Maralyn died in 2002, Maurice was left alone.

Alvaro, 37, from Malaga, Spain, had been fascinated by the Baileys since boyhood.

In 2016 he visited reclusive Maurice in Lymington, Hants, for interviews he turned into a documentary.

He raised the alarm after Maurice stopped replying to emails. He was found dead inside his house.

(Image: Alvaro Cerezo/ Mercury press)

Alvaro said of the Baileys: “They were a beautiful couple, not only because of their adventure but also be­­­cause of the way they lived.

“Maurice told me he would go back to that raft if he could. He missed his life with the animals, away from civilisation.

“He was a very special person. It’s hard to believe he died with no one.”

See the documentary at thebaileys.docastaway.com