Castaways Found On Pacific Atoll After 33 Days At Sea

Two men from the Pacific island of Kiribati who were adrift for 33 days at sea have turned up on the Namdrik Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands, some 300 miles away.

The two men, aged 53 and 26, were picked up by members of Royal Australian Air Force, the Telegraph reports.

The two men were sick and weak but in "reasonable" condition, the paper added.

Locals tell the paper that these kinds of incidents happen more often than you'd think. Giff Johnson, the editor of the Marshall Islands Journal, told the Telegraph: "As odd as it may seem, the Marshall Islands hosts Kiribas drifters quite frequently. It's not that it happens all the time. Let's just say people from Kiribas are very hardy individuals. They get lost on a little boat and manage to persevere. It is an amazing thing."

The two men were reported missing on October 22nd, ABC Australia reports.

Proper medical assistance lies in capital of the Marshall Islands. The one glitch? The airplane that flies from Namdrik to the capital once of week has been grounded for maintenance, Radio Australia reports.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that the U.S. Coast Guard picked up the two men. In fact, the men were found by the Royal Australian Air Force, with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard.

Comments

[AmagaiBluWave]

11:29 PM on 11/29/2011

God Loves all His castaways.

[TooKrunk]

04:08 PM on 11/29/2011

WILSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Torpedo54]

10:04 AM on 11/29/2011

The only thing missing was Mary Ann.

[lynniemiller]

08:20 AM on 11/29/2011

Lucky people!

[AmagaiBluWave]

11:28 PM on 11/29/2011

Luck? lol.

[lynniemiller]

11:51 PM on 11/29/2011

Best wishes to you

Thank you for responding.

[voteRepub2012]

05:36 AM on 11/29/2011

Hope Gilligan and the Skipper were ok.

[ray13666]

10:00 AM on 11/29/2011

LOL, vote..........good to see a sense of humor under the liberal manman in the District of Corruption..........
Semper fi

[ruckas356]

04:09 AM on 11/29/2011

again no details just a basic story with as much detail in the title then in the article... whats up HP cant you guys get the facts and details??? smh

[Cody29]

06:00 AM on 11/29/2011

I want to know the details too!

[capwhan]

06:06 AM on 11/29/2011

Their stories leave you wanting for details. It's very frustrating to read them.

[TeeArr]

01:28 PM on 11/29/2011

Weird thing, too, is that Wikipedia says that it's an inhabited island. Plenty of Google images of houses and stuff, too.

[Blindstu]

02:56 AM on 11/29/2011

I used to sail the Pacific for most of my sea going career of 40 years and it's a frighten place when the sea picks up. During that time we rescued a number of people from certain death but most of the time you can travel from one side of the Pacific to the other and not see a thing. Sometimes the ocean is as smooth as glass and the only thing making waves is the ship you are on. However, it's not a place I would like to be without the protection of my ship. To give you an idea how vast it is, a ship underway at 14 knots (Just over 16 miles an hour) and travelling twenty four hours a day non stop, takes over three weeks to get from Panama to Brisbane Australia. Even the seagulls get bored and stop following you, apart from the albatross that is. If you like isolation and privacy, the Pacific ocean is just the place for you.

[tccat4]

05:11 AM on 11/29/2011

Blind, I read that since the tsunami in Japan, there is a bunch of things that were washed out to sea traveling east, about the size of Texas and about 1000 miles long. Amazing, TY for sharing

[Blindstu]

05:38 AM on 11/29/2011

Several of my seafaring friends live in Japan, married to Japanese ladies, and were involved in the recent earthquakes and tsunami. One was actually living in the village where most of the tsunami damage took place but luckily survived, along with all of his family. Unfortunately, having survived that, six months later he died of a heart attack. Strange as it may seem, when you are at sea and a tsunami approaches you, you hardly notice it as the ship rises up with the wave, it only gets dangerous as it approaches the continental shelf and that's when it rises to huge dimensions, crashing ashore and causing terrible damage. I myself have been in an earthquake at sea, just north of New Guinea and the shaking was so violent that I thought my ship had run aground.....luckily no tsunami resulted. The north coast of New guinea rises in long lines, just like steps and it's obvious that the land has been progessively pushed up out of the sea each time a large earthquake takes place.

[ray13666]

10:03 AM on 11/29/2011

I had the pleasure of hitching a ride on a navy ship to Japan back in the 70s. During the 3 week trip we hit a terrible squall with 60 foot waves washing over the deck of this navy ship. I was only 18 and admittedly terriried since the sailors had the look of fear in their eyes. Moral? Why do they call the Pacific Ocean, the ocean is nothing but pacific. I prefer the Atlantic after that trip, LOL.
Semper fi.............

[Blindstu]

11:15 AM on 11/29/2011

The Atlantic can be just as bad, my last voyage was delivering a luxury 70ft motor yacht from Newfoundland Canada to Monte Carlo via the Azores, Gibralter and Spain during December. Even with all my sea experience, I threw up nearly all the way. It was called Pacific by the first sailors who saw it because they struck lucky and it was just that...at peace.

[Blindstu]

02:41 AM on 11/29/2011

A very powerful book to read is called "MInerva Reef" where a boat carrying a number of Pacific Islanders sank. It's a true story and what makes it even more remarkable is Minerva reef, which is North of New Zealand, is fully submerged at high tide and the only thing that sticks up above the water is the wreck of an old fishing boat. Those guys had no water and survived for months. In the end, in desperation, they built a boat from scrap wood they found and three of them sailed it away from the reef leaving most of the men behind. Unfortunately, one of those three drowned as the boat broke up when passing over the reef at Fiji but the rest were rescued. There are lots of refferences to God in the book but when you read it you can understand why.

[o0oooooo0o]

02:19 AM on 11/29/2011

Thirty-three days on a Pacific atol? Man, what a great opportunity to work on a really nice tan! Of course, some food and fresh water would be nice, too. Doubt they had a lot of that to work with. Glad they made it out alive and I hope they plane gets in the air soon to take them the rest of the way to the hospital and home.

[Blindstu]

03:00 AM on 11/29/2011

Being from the Pacific island of Kiribati, they already have a tan and don't even think about getting a better one. They are very nice people though, very friendly and always smiling and singing.

[ray13666]

10:05 AM on 11/29/2011

Very true Blindstu, I have found over the years that of all the islands in the world, the pacific islands house the most friendly and helpful people, much better than the Caribean.

[o0oooooo0o]

02:41 PM on 11/29/2011

I meant MY tan.. lol. But anyway.. Kirbati sounds like a really nice place to be!

[Ruthsgardens]

02:07 AM on 11/29/2011

They were in a boat in the pacific lost and at the mercy of the currents for 33 days traveling over 300 miles.And they got damn lucky that they came ashore at Namdrik. Which has a population of over 800.Because most of them don't have diddly.The atolls are coral reefs that extend some distances.Most of them have around and less than a square mile of land on some of them.There are a crapload of islands and islets.There are 29 atolls.27 of them have airstrips.The problem is this.You can be on the same atoll with an airstrip.But the mile square piece of land you are standing on is here.The airstrip is miles away on that piece of land.The rest of the coral reef is underwater.It is not like you can just walk there.And there are only so many places you can get on top of some of these reefs to land to and that is only by high tide.Even though there are shallow lagoons all over you can wade in,that coral will shred a boat and tear your skin and clothes off of you to.But it is damn good fishing.And that is why people go there to make a living.But when mother nature gets angry,there is nowhere to hide.I got to see them once after ww2.And that was all I needed.I am sure they have changed a lot since then.

[vlamstr]

01:51 AM on 11/29/2011

OMG! I hope they're alright!

[pslcitizen]

12:58 AM on 11/29/2011

They are really lucky. Glad they were found in time.

[had410]

11:55 PM on 11/28/2011

two men, huh.

[sactoken]

11:36 PM on 11/28/2011

Wilson!

[burtongrl]

12:07 AM on 11/29/2011

Ok I'll admit it....that was my first thought also!

[maryk4d4]

12:35 AM on 11/29/2011

Wonder what happened to Ginger and Maryanne

[tccat4]

05:14 AM on 11/29/2011

Sac..Roflmao, took me a moment... brilliant !!!!

[slm8421]

11:18 PM on 11/28/2011

This one was 50 days http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-11-26-south-pacific-rescue_N.htm?csp=usat.me