Three shipwrecked people have been missing since Easter – now the US Coast Guard has found them on a tiny coral island in the Pacific. A message left in the sand with palm fronds helped.
The US Coast Guard has tracked down three shipwrecked people who have been missing since Easter in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. The men set out on a trip from Polowat Atoll on Easter Sunday in a six-meter-long boat with an outboard engine, the US Coast Guard said. After they still hadn’t returned six days later, the niece of one of the sailors alerted authorities.
The US Navy launched a rescue operation and the search area covered over 78,000 square nautical miles. Last Tuesday, a US Navy plane flew over the uninhabited island of Pikelot, and the crew spotted a large “HELP” made of palm fronds on the beach. A rescue team was then sent out.
The sailors were stranded on a remote island in Micronesia.
Message in the sand led to salvation
The men were stranded on the 32-hectare palm-covered island, which, like Polowat Atoll, is part of Micronesia. It is around 100 nautical miles (around 185 kilometers) from the men’s home island. The Coast Guard did not disclose the cause of the accident. She posted a photo showing two small covered shelters near the “HELP” sign.
The New York Times reported that this was not the first time that castaways had been rescued from the island of Pikelot. About four years ago, three missing sailors were found there after writing “SOS” in the sand.