He is truly a modern-day “castaway.”
Three people on a stranded boat on a remote Pacific island were rescued this week thanks to a clever ‘Help Me’ sign written on a palm frond.
On March 31, the men were fishing in Paikelot Atoll, part of Micronesia, when their 20-foot boat was caught in a swell. U.S. Coast Guard officials said in a statement..
The small boat’s outboard motor was damaged, forcing the crew to abandon ship at Pikelot, the paper said.
However, after arriving at the deserted island, the batteries in the three’s radios run out.
Despite the desperate situation, they were able to come up with a viable alternative, the Coast Guard said. The idea was to spell out the word “HELP” on a large palm leaf on the island’s sandy beach.
They lived on coconut meat and fresh water from small wells set up by fishermen who occasionally stopped on the island.
The search for the men began April 6 after relatives notified Guam authorities that they had not returned from a fishing trip.
Relatives told authorities the three began their journey from Porowat Atoll, more than 100 miles away.
Paikelot is even more remote, officials noted, as the more than 600 islands that make up Micronesia are spread out over about 1.5 million miles of ocean between the Philippines and Hawaii.
According to the Coast Guard, a U.S. Navy P-8A fighter jet departed from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa on April 7 and spotted the palm leaf beacon.
Lt. Chelsea Garcia said the markers were “crucial” in locating the three people in a search area that spans more than 103,000 square miles.
“This ingenuity was critical in directing rescue efforts directly to the scene,” Garcia said.
The Navy dropped survival packs for stranded boaters. The next day, a Hawaiian Coast Guard HC-103 dropped a radio on them.
Finally, on Tuesday, the Coast Guard cutter Oliver Henry arrived at Pikelot.
One of the first officers to arrive on the island was Petty Officer 2nd Class Eugene Harisilius, a Micronesian native and native speaker. CNN reported.
“I could see it on their faces saying, ‘Oh! Who is this guy parked in this car who can speak our language?'” Harisilius told the outlet.
When Harisilius told the men his name, the group quickly realized that they were all related.
“It’s a crazy world. I just found out that I’m actually related to them!” Harisirius exclaimed in a serendipitous moment. “[They] I couldn’t believe I was working with the Coast Guard to rescue them. ”
One of the men is his third cousin and the other two are fourth cousins, he explained of the family relationships.
As of Thursday, all three had returned safely to Porowat. Their names have not been released.
The U.S. Coast Guard did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on the rescue.
