Island of miracles: Three teens rescued after 50 days adrift at sea

Edward Nasau, Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo were lost at sea for 50 days before being rescused by a tuna boat

Island of Miracles: Three teens rescued after 50 days adrift at sea
by Lauren Urban


Atafu, an island serene enough to serve as a computers screensaver, is now a place of miracles, as three of its native youths were rescued by a fishing boat after spending 50 days adrift in the South Pacific.
The boys - Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo, both 15, and Edward Nasau, 14- went missing in early October after attempting to row between two islands in the New Zealand territory of Tokelau. They were trying to find a girl on a neighboring island, Fakaofo, about 100 miles away. The girl had captivated the boys after visiting their island for a sports tournament, according to newser.com.
Click for full story.
After drinking alcohol, the teens’ liquid courage led them to steal a small aluminum boat, stocked with some coconuts, beer and a fuel tank, and set sail into the dark sea shortly after midnight on October 5, according to monstersandcritics.com.
After their craft ran out of fuel, the adventurous teens helplessly drifted 800 miles to an uninhabited section of the Pacific northeast of Fiji before being spotted by the tuna boat San Nikuna headed back to New Zealand on November 24, according to Yahoo News.
According to Foxnews.com, the boys survived on rainwater, coconuts, raw fish and a seagull that landed on their 12-foot-long boat. They were rescued just in time. It hadn’t rained for several days, and the boys began to drink sea water.
After the rescue, one of the teens reached his grandmother by phone from the fishing boat. She began spreading the news. The Atafu villagers, who had held eulogy serviced for the boys two weeks earlier, were overcome with joy.
It's a miracle, it's a miracle," said Tanu Filo, the father of Filo Filo. "The whole village, they were so excited and cried and they sang songs and were hugging each other in the road. Everybody was yelling and shouting the good news," he told Radio New Zealand International, according to Foxnews.com.
Tai Fredricsen, first mate of the tuna boat that rescued the teens, said a crew member spotted the small boat bobbing in the open sea in an area that was far off from any normal commercial shipping routes. “We knew it was a little weird,” Fredricsen told Foxnews.com.
As the tuna boat approached the vessel, they saw the three young boys waving frantically. After their rescue, all the boys could respond was “Thank you very much for stopping,” Fredricsen told New Zealand’s National Radio.
At the time of their rescue, the teens appeared undernourished, severely dehydrated and badly sunburned. Fredricsen said, “They looked very bad - bones protruding from underneath the skin, but mentally strong, strong as an ox," according to CNN.com
A Fiji navy patrol boat escorted the tuna boat into the harbor of Suva, Fiji’s capital. New Zealand consular officials took the boys directly to a hospital for medical examinations, according to Foxnews.com.
Commander Francis Kean, Fiji's naval commander, said the boys had been unable to keep down solid food and that they would be fed fluids and carefully observed by doctors at a military hospital. Kean said the teens would not be accessible to members of the media until they were healthier and in a more stable condition, according to Foxnews.com.

Expand your knowledge:
Fox Report