It sounds like a scene out of a movie. A group of three fishermen got shipwrecked on a deserted island in Micronesia for over a week. But thanks to a little help from up above, including the swift actions of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, the men have been rescued.
The Coast Guard reports the three mariners, all in their 40s, reportedly embarked on their voyage from Polowat Atoll on Easter Sunday in a small 20-foot open skiff equipped with an outboard motor.
The men did have experience in navigating those waters, but they still ended up being stranded 100 nautical miles away on Pikelot Atoll in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).
After realizing their radio had run out of battery, the castaways came up with a plan to try to get rescued.
They gathered palm fronds, spelling out the word “HELP” in the sand.
For the next week, the men waited, surviving on coconut until a Navy plane flying nearby finally spotted their signal.
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Keith Arnold said, “The HELP sign was pretty visible; we could see it from a couple thousand feet in the air.”
“A Navy P-8 Aircraft from airbase
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