Story at a glance
- Two men from the Solomon Islands have been rescued after spending 29 days lost at sea.
- The men were traveling to another island when heavy rain and wind took them out to sea.
- The two men survived on oranges they had packed, coconuts they found in the sea and by gathering rainwater.
Two men from the Solomon Islands have been rescued after spending 29 days lost at sea.
“I look forward to going back home but I guess it was a nice break from everything,” one of the men, Livae Nanjikana, told The Guardian.
Nanjikana and Junior Qoloni took off from Mono Island on Sept. 3 in a motorboat to travel 200 km to Noro on New Georgia Island. However, soon after they set out, the duo was hit by heavy winds and rain that obscured the coastline they were following as a guide.
“When the bad weather came, it was bad, but it was worse and became scary when the GPS died,” he said. “We couldn’t see where we were going and so we just decided to stop the engine and wait, to save fuel.”
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When the rain had finally passed, Nanjikana and Qoloni had already drifted far out to sea. They spent the next 29 days living off of oranges they had packed, coconuts they found in the sea and by gathering rainwater.
A fisherman found and rescued the two men on Oct. 2 off the coast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea, about 400 km from where they had started.
Nanjikana and Qoloni were brought to a local health clinic for treatment and are lodging with a local man, Joe Kolealo, until they can return home.
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