U.S., Australian Forces Rescue Island Castaways by Chance
A multinational search team rescued three fishermen whose boat had sank in the Caroline islands.
The fishermen had survived the sinking and written SOS in the sand on tiny Pikelot Island, one of the most remote places in the world.
A U.S. Air National Guard tanker discovered the group by chance after maneuvering to avoid bad weather.
A search team rescued a group of castaways from a tiny Pacific island after their fishing boat sank. The searchers, made up of military and coast guard units from the U.S., Australia, and Micronesia, discovered the three missing fishermen after noticing the letters SOS written on the white sandy beach. The men airdropped supplies and eventually rescued the castaways by boat.
The incident began when the U.S. Coast Guard’s Joint Rescue Sub-Center Guam received notification of an overdue fishing boat. On July 29, the boat had set off for a 21-mile voyage between islands 400 miles southeast of Guam, but never arrived.
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The Coast Guard, according to the Maritime Executive, activated a full-scale search. A Coast Guard HC-130 search plane was scrambled from Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, 4,000 miles away from the search area. HMAS Canberra, an amphibious assault ship belonging to the Royal Australian Navy, was in the area and was alerted, as was the Federated States of Micronesia patrol boat FSS Independence. A Hawaii Air National Guard KC-135 Stratotanker located on Guam took off to assist in the search.
“We were toward the end of our search pattern,” U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jason Palmeira-Yen, the KC-135 pilot, explained. “We turned to avoid some rain showers, and that’s when we looked down and saw an island, so we decide to check it out, and that’s when we saw SOS and a boat right next to it on the beach. From there, we called in the Australian Navy because they had two helicopters nearby that could assist and land on the island.”
Here's video of the rescue:
The stranded mariners were found on Pikelot Island, one of the most remote places on Earth. In addition to being 400 miles from Guam, it's approximately 1,000 miles from Japan and 1,000 miles from Australia. The tiny, uninhabited island is just over a quarter of a mile long and 1/20th of a mile wide.
The Australian Navy didn’t just land any helicopter—it sent a Tiger attack helo to make contact. The Australians, concerned about COVID-19 transmission, decided they couldn't risk picking the crew up.
The Royal Australian Army units embarked on Canberra used landing craft to deliver food and supplies to the fishing boat crew while the HC-130 airdropped a radio and message that the Independence was headed to pick them up. The KC-135 located the crew on August 1, and Independence arrived to pick them up on August 3.
The three men were rescued in good condition, and the cause of the stranding is still unknown.
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