'SOS' Sign Written On Beach Rescued Three Men Trapped On A Pacific Island

Aug 06, 2020 by apost team

An 'SOS' message written on the beach of a tiny Pacific island pointed rescuers to three missing mariners, the United States and Australian authorities said Tuesday.

Imagine being shipwrecked or stuck on an island after taking a short cruise or voyage. This sense of hopelessness was felt by three mariners who had gone missing for a few days during a trip across the ocean.

This beach was on a small island and found by the authorities of the United States and Australia. CNN reported that the three missing mariners had gone on a 26-mile expedition on Thursday. They were meant to go from Pulawar to Pulap in the Federated States of Micronesia. Once the boat ran out of fuel, they went away from their intended course and landed on an uninhabited, desolate island called Pikelot Island.

This island was nearly 118 miles away from their desired destination. The islands of Pulawar and Pulap are around 500 miles south of the country of Guam. When the men did not arrive in Pulap, the United States Coast Guard's Joint Rescue Sub Center stationed in Guam proceeded to request help from other stations in the region to search for these missing men.

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A US Air Force KC-135 tanker operating on the Anderson Air Force Base in Guam first spotted the three men. The search took nearly three hours before the tanker reported this sight to the Facebook page of the station. The pilot of the tanker states in the post:

"We were toward the end of our search pattern. 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 she saw SOS and a boat right next to it on a beach. From there we called in the Australian Nacy because they had two helicopters nearby that could assist and land on the island."

As mentioned in the post, helicopters from the Australian base landed on the beach to help the men. They dropped off sustenance, including food and water, and also provided medical care if needed. Word that the men had been found spread quickly through the radio channels of all the stations looking for them.

A statement by the US Coast Guard claimed that both the rescuers and rescued men followed social distancing guidelines that were set in place due to COVID-19 and kept their distance from one another. Here is what the statement said:

"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."

Guardian reported that the men were rescued shortly and led onto a boat that took them back to their intended destination. The commander of the Guam station of the US Coast Guard claims that he was proud of the coordination between different response organizations. The proper coordination was what made the search successful.

Commander of the Canberra, Captain Terry Morrison gave a few positive words about his crew:

"I am proud of the response and professionalism of all on board as we fulfill our obligation to contribute to the safety of life at sea wherever we are in the world."

Three men were left stranded after their boat ran out of fuel during a long expedition to the islands of Pulawat and Pulap. After a coordinated search from all response organizations in the region, one tanker noticed an 'SOS' written in the sand of a beach where a boat was seemingly left stranded. The men were then found and taken to their original destination while following social distancing guidelines.

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