The U.S. Coast Guard said it located three mariners on Pikelot, a tiny Pacific island in Micronesia, after they spelled out their plea on the beach.
By Ellen Francis, The Washington PostPalm fronds make a plea for help on the beach of Pikelot atoll in Micronesia.
The trio of men, all mariners in their 40s, ventured out to go fishing near Pikelot atoll in a 20-foot open skiff with an outboard motor, the Coast Guard said, noting that the three had “experience in navigating these waters.” The search began after a relative called rescue officials in Guam last weekend and said the three had not returned from Pikelot, which is part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a Pacific nation made up of many islands scattered in the ocean between the Philippines and Hawaii.spotted the help sign drawn with palm fronds on the beach, narrowing an initial search area that stretched over 78,000 square nautical miles, according to a Coast Guard statement.
“The skiff was damaged when they approached the island due to the swells surging on the island and surrounding shoal,” Chief Warrant Officer Sara Muir of U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia, Sector Guam, told the Stars and Stripes newspaper Thursday. The battery on their radio had died, she said.They ate meat from coconuts, and “water was available through a well on the island,” Muir told the paper. She said they had enough food to survive, “but not for much longer.
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