The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three men who were stranded on a tiny Pacific island for more than a week. The guys leveraged a survival trick worthy of the movie screen– they spelled H-E-L-P out on the beach utilizing palm leaves. The Coast Guard says the mariners’ message was a “important factor in their discovery.”
According to a Coast Guard press release, a relative contacted authorities on April 6 after the three guys didn’t return home after a fishing trip. In truth, they had become stranded on Pikelot Atoll, an uninhabited outer island of the Federated States of Micronesia.
The guys left from Polowat Atoll (about 100 nautical miles from Pikelot Atoll) on March 31 in a 20-foot open skiff.
Search-and-rescue efforts at first covered over 78,000 square nautical miles, however a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft identified the H-E-L-P message on April 7. The airplane team released survival plans to the men till they might try a rescue.
On April 9, the USCGC Oliver Henry reached Pikelot Atoll. The team got the mariners off the desert island and home safely. Mission accomplished.
The team of USCGC Oliver Henry assists move the belongings of three mariners stranded on Pikelot Atoll, Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia, on April 9, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard)
An ‘Act of Ingenuity’
“In a remarkable testament to their will to be discovered, the mariners defined ‘ASSISTANCE’ on the beach utilizing palm leaves, an important consider their discovery,” stated Lt. Chelsea Garcia, the mission coordinator on April 7. “This act of ingenuity was pivotal in assisting rescue efforts straight to their place.”
Three stranded mariners used a survival technique straight out of the motion pictures– they spelled aid in palm leaves. And it worked.