But the motor broke and stopped working, leaving the castaways stranded on the small deserted island for more than a week, surviving on coconuts and water from a well.
Last weekend, after relatives called rescue officials in Guam and said the three had not returned from Paikelot, part of the Pacific nation of the Federated States of Micronesia, which consists of many islands scattered in the ocean between the Philippines and Hawaii. The search has begun. .
U.S. Navy aircraft dispatched from an air base in Japan The initial search area of 78,000 square nautical miles narrowed after the discovery of a help sign painted with palm fronds on the beach, the Coast Guard said. statement. The names of the sailors were not released.
The plane dropped a “survival package” for the three men, and a crew from an air base in Hawaii then dropped a radio to contact the men. They were in “good health”, had some food and water, and recovered the boat. The Coast Guard said.
“The boat was damaged as it approached the island due to swells rolling into the island and the surrounding shallows,” said Chief Warrant Officer Sarah Muir, U.S. Coast Guard Micronesia, Guam District Sector. Said Thursday’s Stars and Stripes Newspaper. She said the batteries in her radio died.
They ate coconut meat and “water was available from wells on the island,” Muir told the paper. She said they had enough food to survive, but “it won’t last long.”
The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Oliver Henry was diverted to the rescue mission, which ended Tuesday when the ship returned the three to Porowat, another atoll about 160 miles away.
Their “ingenuity was critical in directing rescue efforts to the scene,” Lt. Chelsea Garcia, who was the coordinator of search and rescue efforts on the day the three were found, said in a statement.
This was not the first time that marking the shore had been effective for castaways stranded on Pikelot.
Three other men who went missing in Micronesia in 2020 reportedly washed ashore after their boat went off course and ran out of fuel.
The trio wrote a large “SOS” sign in the sand, which was also spotted from the air, allowing the coast guard and Australian authorities to locate the trio on the island.
