U.S. Navy Rescues Stranded Sailors from a Deserted Island

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In a scene right out of Gilligan’s Island, the U.S. Navy rescued three sailors stranded on an uninhabited island last Thursday. They had set sail from Pulap, Micronesia en route to Wenro island, when their 19-foot skiff was capsized by a large wave. After being thrown from their boat, the sailors swam four miles to Fandadik, an uninhabited Micronesian island. The U.S Coast Guard received word that the sailors were missing, and asked the U.S. Navy to dispatch a P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft operating out of Japan in order to find them.

The surveillance plane spotted the missing sailors upon seeing a large message of “HELP” written in palm fronds on the island’s beach. The sailors also waved fluorescent-colored life jackets to catch the Navy’s attention. “Our combined efforts coupled with the willingness of many different resources to come together and help, led to the successful rescue of these three men in a very remote part of the Pacific,” said Lt. William White, Sector Guam public affairs officer.