'HELP' sign on beach points Navy and Coast Guard aviators to men stuck on Pacific atoll
Three men stranded on an uninhabited Pacific island survived for more than a week and used palm fronds to spell out HELP on the beach – leading to rescue by Navy and Coast Guard aviators who spotted the sign from several thousand feet in the air.
They had embarked March 31 in a 20-foot boat with an outboard motor from Pulawat Atoll, a small island with about an estimated 1,000 inhabitants in the Federated States of Micronesia about 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) east of the Philippines.
The men were fishing when they hit a coral reef, putting a hole in the boat’s bottom and causing it to take on water, Lt. Keith Arnold said in a Coast Guard video.
A Coast Guard ship, the Oliver Henry, picked up the men Tuesday and took them back to the atoll where they had set out nine days earlier and 100 miles (160 kilometers) away, according to the statement.
Related articles
Pope trip to Luxembourg, Belgium confirmed for September, 2 weeks after challenging Asia visit
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has added a stop in Luxembourg to a trip to Belgium in September, a three-d2024-05-21'And so it begins': Inside Parliament during the uneasy transition of government
By Glenn McConnell of2024-05-21'And so it begins': Inside Parliament during the uneasy transition of government
By Glenn McConnell of2024-05-21Whale euthanised after stranding near Christchurch
Whale stranded at Banks Peninsula on 20 March 2024. Photo: Facebook / Project Jonah2024-05-21Kristin Cavallari, 37, ignores critics of her age
Kristin Cavallari is enjoying a romantic rendezvous with her much younger cowboy lover Mark Estes in2024-05-213D printed eggs used in fairy tern rescue programme
A tara iti chick steps briefly out of its nest at Waipū to explore. Photo: Supplied / Darren Markin2024-05-21
atest comment