Five PNG survivors recovering after two months at sea

Updated November 18, 2009 17:44:06

Five Papua New Guinea men who survived being lost at sea for two months are now recovering in hospital in the Marshall Islands. There were originally eight men in the small boat which left Tabar Island in the New Ireland area of PNG on September 14 to return home to Lihir Island, a distance of about 50 kilometres. One man drowned just two days before the boat was spotted, and two others died after being rescued but before they could get to land. The five survivors are currently being rehydrated and fed in Majuro Hospital in Marshall Islands. One of the doctors treating them, Marie Paul, says the men should be okay now, but they were in a bad way when they arrived.

Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speakers: Dr Marie Paul; Suzzane Chutaro, reporter with the Marshall Islands Journal

PAUL: Considering what they've been through in the last I believe in two months and one week they're doing ok, they were quite dehydrated, very weak, they've lost a lot of weight. However they're recovering well at the moment. One of them was not really doing so well, because of his severe dehydration, but he is doing ok now. They've all been admitted to the hospital for further medical care.

HILL: Are they talking about their experiences, have they explained what happened to them?

PAUL: Yes they're talking to their attending physicians and to the PNG community, we have a few folks from PNG who are working here, and they've been coming in and visiting them and also offering support in terms of clothing, food supplies and all their other needs. So they've been talking about their ordeal to their attendants and as well as PNG people here.

HILL: Suzzane Chutaro a reporter with the Marshall Islands Journal, has spoken to the men in hospital, and says they're depressed about losing three of their number. She says three of the five men didn't want to talk about their experience.

CHUTARO: They are conscious, they are very young guys, like two of them are 19 years old and two are 17, and the other one is a 23-year old. They're very skinny, they're just basically skeletons, you can tell they've been starving for the past two months. When I got in there two of them were sitting up and the rest of them were lying down, very weak.

HILL: Are they conscious, are they sort of completely with us, they know they've been rescued, how do they feel about that?

CHUTARO: They are conscious, they are grateful to be rescued, you can tell there's a sadness amongst them, three of them wouldn't talk, they don't speak English, but they just had their eyes cast down and you feel a sadness amongst them I guess. There's a 17-year old boy whose younger brother actually jumped off the boat on Friday, the Friday before they were rescued on Sunday.

HILL: He jumped off the boat?

CHUTARO: What happened was he was drying his clothes and the wind blew his shirt away. He jumped into the water to try to get his shift, and I guess he was just too weak to swim, it was a windy day, they were saying he got too far away from the boat and couldn't make it back.

HILL: And what about the other two who died? Did they die before they were rescued or just after they were rescued?

CHUTARO: They died just after they were rescued, they were picked up I believe on Sunday and the first one died, he was the 25-year old. They told me he was 25-years old, they weren't sure. The second one died about three hours before they reached Port Majuro.

HILL: Now they were rescued after they were spotted by a helicopter from this large fishing vessel. I understand that they were in fact spotted by some other long-line fishing vessels that didn't stop to pick them up, is that true?

CHUTARO: I asked them did you see any boats along the way but I don't know if there was a language problem or not but they said no, so I'm confused, but that's what I heard first as well. And when I asked them today like did you see any boats along the way, and they're saying no.

HILL: I understand that they're being looked after by the Papua New Guinea community there in Majuro in the Marshall Islands?

CHUTARO: Yeah in fact one of the doctors is from PNG and he was in the room with me helping me to translate. Two of them spoke English but it was a bit difficult to understand.

HILL: Do we know how long they're going to have to stay in hospital, I mean they've been two months at sea, they must be just skin and bone, they'll need a lot of time to recover?

CHUTARO: The doctors didn't say how long but yeah he did stress that they are very malnourished and dehydrated and it's going to be a while to get them back up, like three of them were just lying down, they couldn't sit up.

HILL: So what's the local reaction been like from local people there in the Marshall Islands? Is this the sort of thing that happens on a regular basis or is this a kind of unusual thing a rescue at sea?

CHUTARO: Well actually we get quite a few rescues at sea, mostly Gilbanese that end up drifting. We have Mexicans, that was a few years back, they were out there for nine months. Chikies group, they were out there for three months. But most of the drifters that end up on our shores are from the Gilbert Islands, and we get one maybe at least once a year.