Teenager survives 49 days adrift at sea

[leont]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...in-fishing-hut

An Indonesian teenager has survived 49 days adrift at sea in a fishing hut before he was rescued by a Panamanian-flagged vessel and returned home.

Almost a catamaran, deserves the EU CE=A certification.

[Steadman Uhlich]

That’s an interesting story.

Reading it, I imagined what it must have felt like to be adrift on that raft with that tiny hut for shelter and minimal food. Then considering that he has worked on that raft for three years! And normally he received a weekly visit by a boat for some food supplies and so the boat could pick up his catch. Who among us would want to be at sea on that craft, long term (as a job)? Not me.

Here is an excerpt that I think bears sharing here:

“The teenager only had a few days worth of supplies and survived by catching fish, burning wood from his hut to cook them, and sipping seawater through his clothes to minimize his salt intake.

The Indonesian consulate in Osaka said that 10 ships had sailed past the Indonesian teenager before a Panamanian-flagged vessel, MV Arpeggio, finally picked him up in the waters off Guam on 31 August – more than a month and a half later.

“Every time he saw a large ship, he said, he was hopeful, but more than 10 ships had sailed past him, none of them stopped or saw Aldi,” Fajar Firdaus, an Indonesian diplomat from the consulate in Osaka, told the Jakarta Post.

Aldi initially waved a cloth at MV Arpeggio but after failing to attract the attention of its crew, sent an emergency radio signal.”

[grantmc]

There's something not quite right about the reporting. The victim also mentions he'd seen 10 vessels pass by. What I don't understand is this sentence in the report:

"Aldi initially waved a cloth at MV Arpeggio but after failing to attract the attention of its crew, sent an emergency radio signal."

And I am wondering what sort of radio, presumably marine VHF. And if so why hadn't he radioed any of the other 10 vessels?

That aside, wonderful he was found. One can only ponder as to how many other children are lost looking after their families rompongs.