Three Micronesian men were located on a deserted Pacific island after their “SOS” message constructed along the beach alerted rescuers to their position.
The three sailors landed on uninhabited Pikelot Island, located north of Papua New Guinea, after their 7-meter boat ran out of fuel more than 100 miles off course. The rescue was a joint mission between U.S. and Australian forces who worked together to locate and bring the men home safely. A U.S. Air Force KC-135 tanker initially spotted the distress signal after hours of searching.
“We were toward the end of our search pattern,” Lt. Col. Jason Palmeira-Yen, the KC-135 pilot, said in a post shared to Facebook. “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.”
The Australian amphibious assault ship HMAS Canberra launched a helicopter to bring the stranded men food and water before a patrol vessel sent by the U.S. Coast Guard escorted the men off the island at around 8 p.m. local time.
According to a statement provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, rescuers practiced social distancing while helping the three men in a reminder that even in the most remote parts of the world, the coronavirus is still a pressing threat.
“After discussions between the responding partners, it was decided the safest course of action for both the response agencies’ crews and the mariners was to limit exposure to one another due to the COVID-19 Pandemic,” the Coast Guard statement read.
