A film screenwriter couldn’t have done better. Three sailors shipwrecked on a desert island in the Federated States of Micronesia in the Pacific managed to be rescued after writing “help” in palm leaves on the beach, according to a press release from the US Coast Guardreported by the American press, then spotted by Provence.
The three men, all aged around forty, left on March 31 from Polowat Atoll, 185 kilometers southeast of Pikelot Atoll, where they ran aground, presumably after the blackout. of the outboard motor of their light six-meter boat. “They had experience navigating these waters,” said the US Coast Guard press release.
Spotted from a plane
The signal of their disappearance was only sent a week after their departure, on April 6, by the niece of one of the three unfortunate people. The rescue center then immediately launched a search operation over an initial area of 140,000 km² (roughly the equivalent of the surface of England).
It was a US Navy pilot dispatched to the area who spotted the inscription from his cockpit on April 7. After receiving an airdrop radio, the castaways were able to indicate that they were in good health and still had supplies of water and food. They were evacuated from the islet on April 9.