Teenage Defies Death And Survives 49 Days Drifting In Sea On ‘Fishing Hut’

Sep 28, 2018 by apost team

19 year old Aldi Novel Adilang was working on a fishing hut, known as a rompong, 77 miles (125km) off the coast of Indonesia. A rompong is a floating trap for fish that doesn't have any paddles or an engine.

Once a week, a designated person would go collect the fish that had been trapped and bring some supplies to Aldi. Part of Aldi’s job was to light the lamps on the rompong. This attracts the fish.

On July 14, there were heavy winds that caused the ropes holding the anchor down to snap. The rompong was no longer anchored to the seafloor.

Aldi, who is from the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, started to float away from where the boat was anchored down. He was limited on the amount of supplies he had. Aldi caught fish and cooked them by burning wooden posts on the rompong. He drank water from the sea through his clothes to filter out some of the salt. He was stranded and struggling to survive. While he passed more than 10 different ships while he was at sea, none of them saw Aldi. He was devastated.

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Finally, a ship passed by, the MV Arpeggio, on August 31. Aldi had a radio that he used to try to send a signal to the passing ships. He could only hope that someone would answer his call. The Panamanian vessel came to his rescue after they saw him. They had trouble reaching him because of the large waves. They weren’t able to get close to him. The crew on the ship then decided to throw a rope to Aldi. It fell short and didn’t reach him on the rompong. He took the chance and jumped for the rope. They caught his hand. When they got him on board, the crew contacted the coastguard who told them to take Aldi to nearby Japan.

He was taken in by the Japanese immigration authority. He was evaluated to make sure it was safe for him to go home. On September 2, 2018 (54 days from when the anchor ropes broke), he was finally able to return home to his family in Wori, Manado. He was in surprisingly good health.

Even though he was facing getting lost at sea, he persevered and survived his very difficult circumstance.

What do you think of Aldi’s story? Do you think you would have been able to survive that long under similar circumstances? Let us know what you think!