Spending a few days, or even a few hours on a paradisiacal island of the Pacific Ocean can be a dream, but maybe for others, it can be a nightmare. If not, just ask this sailor who got lost in Micronesia.
After a routine three-hour sail from Weno Island to Chuuk, the 19-foot small boat collided with some rocks and its only crew member had to swim two miles to get closer to shore overnight. After realizing he was safe, he made a giant HELP poster in the sand, using palm trees.
The Coast Guard was alerted that he was missing after he missed a scheduled flight, and they began the search. Four Coast Guard ships used radar to track the sailor route and 17 hours later, the man was found on Fanadik Island thanks to the fact that he was shaking his life jackets and of course because of the huge ‘HELP’ sign.
After the rescue, the sailor said that he felt that much more time had passed and that he was worried that he would never be found.
The area where he was contains approximately 600 small islands, which made the search more difficult. The most surprising thing about this story is that it was not the first time that happened to him. Back in 2018, the boat of the same sailor had run out of fuel, this time in the company of three other people, that time they were lost for three days until a Japanese air force plane gave notice to the coast guard, and they were rescued.
In the recent case, the men are all now rested and recovered on the island of Pulap awaiting transportation home. It seems that the area is not only famous for its beautiful beaches, according to the Federated States of Micronesia the coast guard reports more than 22 cases of rescue and drifting ships annually.
