Three teenage boys survive 50 days on tiny boat in Pacific Ocean
Three teenagers given up for dead nearly two months ago after going missing in the Pacific Ocean in a tiny boat have been found alive.
The boys, from the Tokelau Islands, a New Zealand-administered territory in the South Pacific, had been given up for dead after an unsuccessful search. Their parents had even held memorial services for them two weeks ago.
But their luck turned when a New Zealand tuna fishing boat spotted 1,000 miles away from Fiji and took the them to hospital for treatment for severe sunburn.
The boys survived on coconuts, water they trapped on a tarpaulin and a seabird they managed to catch.
The boys - two aged 15 and one aged 14 - had gone missing from Atafu atoll in a small aluminium boat after an annual sporting event on 5 October.
They were presumed to have died after unsuccessful searches by the New Zealand air force.
The boys were then spotted north-east of Fiji on Wednesday afternoon by a member of the tuna boat's crew.
"We drew up next to them, and we asked if they needed any help and their reply was a very ecstatic 'yes'," the tuna vessel's first mate, Tai Fredricsen, told the BBC.
"We immediately deployed our rescue craft and got them straight on board and administered basic first aid."
Fredricsen said the boys had a small supply of coconuts on their boat, but that it had ran out after two days.
"They had a period when they were only drinking fresh water, which they were capturing during the night in a tarpaulin," he said.
"They also told me that two weeks prior to us rescuing them, they were able to catch a sea bird which was very lucky for them."
"They did mention that during the last two days they had started drinking salt water, which could have been disastrous for them," he added.
Fredricsen said the boys were in surprisingly good shape considering their ordeal under the blazing tropical sun.
"They've got a lot of gusto, a lot of strong mental spirit. Physically they are very disturbing but mentally they are very strong."
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