Rescued after 57 days adrift
Published: June 6, 2005
Two fishermen from the central Pacific nation of Kiribati have been rescued in waters off Papua New Guinea after drifting for 57 days in heavy seas.
Atabu Baiaa, 32, and Ruben Baeke, 22, were fishing near Tabiteuea in the northern waters of Kiribati, on March 15 when they became disoriented in heavy seas and rain.
They drifted for eight weeks, surviving on raw fish and rainwater, before they were found by a passing Micronesian fishing boat.
“We were lucky that we had our fishing components to catch fish for our meals and rain water to drink,” they told a newspaper in Honiara during a stopover en route home.
They were travelling with two other men from Kiribati who were also returning home after being lost at sea.
Teuakai Baikia, 52, and Matieta Ubaia, 36, spent more than two weeks adrift after their engine was damaged during a trip to Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati.
They were found by a Taiwanese fishing boat and were told to work onboard as fishermen in exchange for food before being offloaded last month at Rabaul in Papua New Guinea.
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