PNG survivors in Marshalls recovering well

Updated November 20, 2009 13:16:18

Five Papua New Guinea men who escaped death after being lost at sea for more than two months are recovering well in a hospital in Marshall Islands. The survivors are among eight young men who left Tabar Island in New Ireland on September the 14th in a small boat to return home to Lihir Island, a distance of about 50 kilometres. One of them drowned just two days before the boat was spotted in Nauruan waters last Sunday, and two others died after being rescued by the fishing boat "Ocean Encounter". Arrangements are being made through the Marshall Islands foreign affairs to repatriate the survivors and the deceased.


Presenter: Pius Bonjui
Speakers: Dr Peter Asuo; Majuro Hospital in the Marshall Islands

ASUO: At the moment they're doing very well, most of them came in pretty much dehydrated and pretty much starved. So they've lost a lot of weight and after spending two months and a week out to sea it's just a miracle how they survived because you wouldn't expect them to make it but they did. But they're currently doing well at the hospital.

BONJUI: Have you been able to piece together from them how they got lost and when they were found in the sea?

ASUO: These young gentlemen, there were total eight of them, they are boys from Lihir Island and they were coming into New Ireland into Namatanai. And they had a feast, to attend to, a family gathering. So they came, attended the feast and then it was on their way back when they suddenly hit a storm between New Ireland and Lihir. They kept on floating for about two months and a week and they actually were sighted initially by a helicopter in Nauru international waters, and that's about 800 nautical miles away from New Ireland. And they arrived here on Tuesday and on the way on the ship two of the boys they died. So only five actually alive came onto Majuro alive, so as soon as they came emergency services picked them up from the dock and then took them straightaway to the emergency room. When they came in they were pretty much very, very dehydrated, very, very malnourished, they'd lost a lot of weight, they were just basically a bag of bones. Most of them are now sitting up.When they came in they were all just basically weak, so they could not sit up.

BONJUI: It's a miracle that they survived two months in the sea, have you been able to ascertain from them how they managed to get something to eat on the boat?

ASUO: Yeah I actually asked them, questioned them, what they told us was it was fascinating how they survived. If they were lucky enough they were able to get some dried coconuts that were floating, and the times they did not they were not able to get coconuts they picked up any floating leaves or floating logs and any other debris. And if they were lucky they said sometimes there was flying fish that would suddenly jump into their boat and that's basically how they survived. In terms of water they were able to catch their water, they have canvas so they would spread the canvas open and then they would use that, and during the daytime they would use that instead as a shelter when it was sunny. When it was raining then they would get some rainwater off the canvas.

BONJUI: Did they give up any possibility of people rescuing them at sea or were they just floating as they went.

ASUO: They also mentioned that they saw some fishing vessels, there were some boats that passed them by, but the boat did not, like most of them were at night, at nighttime they only can see the lights in the horizon and hear the noise passing by but they couldn't do anything because they were too weak to even yell and do that. But the only time that they were able to make communication is during the daytime, because they had this mirror and they were fortunate enough there was a chopper in sight.

BONJUI: And how long do you expect them to be at the hospital before arrangements are made for them to return to Papua New Guinea?

ASUO: We're expecting them to stay for probably a week once their biochemical status and all the other vitals are ok, they're feeling well enough to move around and then they will possibly be discharged home. We have a small PNG community here and while we're waiting for the Foreign Affairs department in the Marshall Islands to get in touch with Foreign Affairs in Papua New Guinea, most of them, we might take some of these guys and they will stay with us until all arrangements are done. And then the other thing we have the two other dead bodies here. So we need to make arrangements for the dead bodies to also be repatriated back into Papua New Guinea and eventually back to New Ireland.