3 Teen Boys Adrift for 50 days Rescued
November 25th, 2010
Two weeks ago, family and friends gathered to mourn Edward Nasau, Samuel Perez and Filo Filo.
As natives of the Tokelau Islands -- three small atolls in the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii -- the three teenage boys had spent all their young lives surrounded by the water. But by early November, authorities had determined that the sea had done them in, declaring them dead after finding no sign of them since early October.
But, in a moment, grief turned to elation.
First mate Tai Fredricsen was on watch Wednesday, as his 85-meter (279-foot) tuna boat traveled north of Fiji, between the Wallis and Futuna islands. Spying what he called a "little boat" two miles away, he was shocked as he got closer to see three teens frantically waving their arms.
The boys had spent 50 days stranded in the Pacific, drifting more than 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) and living off little more than coconuts, a seagull and seawater. After spotting them and helping bring them aboard, Fredricsen called back to the Tokelau Islands, first to inform Samuel's grandmother that the memorial services had been in vain.
"I just told her we found her kids, and it was total hysteria," Fredricsen said. "It was just amazing."
It was supposed to be a routine trip for the three boys -- Edward, 14, and Filo and Samuel, both 15 -- when they set off from the Tokelau Islands, a string of three atolls totaling 12.2 square kilometers (4.7 square miles) that rose at most 5 meters (16 feet) above sea level.
But then, they got lost, Fredricsen said.
For weeks, they ate nothing until they captured a bird around two weeks ago. About the same time they captured the bird, the memorial service -- attended by 500 people, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, in an island chain that had a total population of 1,400 -- was being held in their memory.
Two days before being spotted, the teenagers began drinking seawater to quench their thirst -- which could "have been devastating" had they continued for much longer, Fredricsen said. Drinking excess amounts of saltwater can negatively, and fatally, affect one's kidney function.
The boys were spotted in an "unusual place" -- hundreds of miles west of the Tokelaus, between western Samoa and Fiji, said Eric Barratt, the managing director for the Sanford seafood company, whose boat found the boys. The boat normally wouldn't have been there, but its commanders altered its typical course, returning to New Zealand rather than heading to the United States after filling up with tuna.
After being spotted from afar Wednesday, the teens signaled the tuna boat's crew with what Fredricsen called "an urgent wave." Those aboard the larger boat were ecstatic to have the three aboard.
"When we came across the boys, we were just ecstatic," Fredricsen said of his shipmates. "We are in very high spirits."
The tuna boat's crew quickly worked to hydrate the frail teens, and bandaged sores caused by all the sun and saltwater. Yet within hours, they were able to eat and talk by phone with their families, Barratt said.
"As you can imagine, they are more or less skin and bone," Fredricsen said. "But their mental state is very positive, very strong."
After six hours on board, the three teenage boys began to mingle with the crew. By 4:30 a.m. local time Thursday, they were transferred to a Fiji coast guard vessel, destined for a hospital in Suva on that Pacific island.
Still, while he didn't enjoy their company for long, Fredricsen said the three boys left their mark on him and his crewmates -- not only because of what they endured while lost at sea, but also their attitudes after being rescued.
"It was just an uplifting experience to meet these young men," Fredricsen said. "Just to live off what they had is very encouraging."
source: CNN
