5 people rescued in South Pacific after months adrift at sea, 4 others missing

Five people, including two children, were rescued this week in the South Pacific island nation of Kiribati after three months drifting at sea in a 20-foot skiff, authorities said. Another four remained missing.

Villagers rescued the group Sunday off Fanning Island in Kiribati, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported, after they had drifted an estimated 3,355 miles east from the Federated States of Micronesia. 

The U.S. Coast Guard in Guam on Tuesday confirmed that the skiff with nine people aboard had been reported missing after it failed to return to Ruo Island in Micronesia on July 30. The group had been making a one-hour crossing between the islands of Murilo and Ruo at the time, ABC reported. 

A 10-day search covering 33,000 square miles followed without any sign of the missing boat or those aboard, it said.

“Incredible and wonderful news these five folks were found and are receiving care,” the U.S. Coast Guard told The Associated Press in an email.

“Our profound condolences to family and friends of those who did not arrive with them,” the email added.

When asked by the AP what happened to the missing four, the U.S. Coast Guard said it was continuing to gather and confirm information and would reply as soon as possible.

A lawmaker in Kiribati, Kaotitaake Rakoroa, told ABC the survivors were being cared for by a pastor on the island.

Nursing officer Paukin Tororo told the ABC on Monday that all five were severely dehydrated and malnourished. They were put on intravenous drips and were showing signs of recovery.  

“They can give a smile face, they show the sign they want to eat,” she told the ABC.

The survivors had yet to speak publicly about their ordeal and had requested privacy, the Australian broadcaster reported. ABC said the group went missing after their boat was caught in a storm. 

The governor of Micronesia’s Chuuk state, Alexander Narruhn, issued a statement Sunday saying he had begun talks with the Kiribati government to bring the survivors home.

“There were nine people aboard the boat that went missing. Thanks be to God for his love and mercy that five of the nine have been found,” Narruhn said through an interpreter.

“We continue to pray for their four companions,” he added. Narruhn did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment.

Other rescues in the Pacific

There have been previous incidents where people have become lost at sea among the tiny island chains that stud the Pacific Ocean. An Australian man survived more than two months lost at sea in 2023 with his dog Bella after rough seas damaged their boat and its electronics system. Tim Shaddock, 51, had been traveling from Mexico to French Polynesia, but found himself drifting in the Pacific Ocean for more than two months. Shaddock and his canine companion survived by drinking rain water and eating raw fish that Shaddock caught, he said. They were spotted by a helicopter and rescued in July 2023. 

Two American sailors and their two dogs were rescued after five months at sea in the Pacific in 2017. Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiaba were discovered 900 miles southeast of Japan by a Taiwanese fishing ship, the U.S. Navy said at the time. The vessel’s engine died during bad weather, and they were unable to get to land using the ship’s sails. The women said the boat drifted off course, and no ships were near enough to hear their distress calls. Water purifiers and a year’s supply of food aboard the vessel kept them alive, the Navy said. 

In 2024, three fishermen were stranded on a remote Micronesian island for more than a week. They were rescued after using palm leaves to spell out “HELP” in large letters on a beach.