Teens Survive 50 Days at Sea

Three residents of a small Pacific island were found floating 385 km from land.

Two fifteen-year-olds, Filo Filo and Samu Pelesa, and fourteen-year-old Etueni Nasau set out in a 12-foot boat to travel between two islands in the remote Tokelau atoll in early October. Although it’s a routine trip for local residents, the trio quickly became disoriented and drifted away. Fifty days later a fishing boat found them 750 nautical miles from their original destination, dehydrated and malnourished but otherwise in good shape. Two weeks ago hundreds of residents of their tiny community turned out for memorial services after authorities declared they could not have survived so long at sea. For seven weeks they lived on coconuts they had been carrying in their boat and a seagull, which they caught and ate.