Three men left on a boat Monday traveling between two islands in Micronesia. But a large wave overturned their 19-foot boat, and they swam a couple of miles to the nearest island, uninhabited Fanadik, a few hundred miles north of Papua New Guinea. They were stranded there for three days. Meanwhile, when they didn’t arrive at their destination by the next day, relatives called the US Coast Guard. A joint Navy-Coast Guard operation to find the men was started. But there are countless tiny islands in Micronesia, and they would not have found them if the men hadn’t used palm leaves to spell out “HELP” on the beach. A Navy plane spotted the sign early Thursday morning. A boat was dispatched from nearby Pulap, their original destination, to bring the men in.
via Neatorama
Image: USCG Hawaii Pacific
