SUVA, Fiji — For more than 50 days, the three boys slurped rainwater that puddled in the bottom of their tiny boat, gobbled flying fish that leaped aboard and prayed for salvation.
Etueni Nasau and his two cousins almost gave up hope as they bobbed in their aluminum dinghy across the South Pacific for more than seven weeks, before a fishing trawler spotted them by chance and brought an end to their ordeal.
“I thank God for keeping us alive all this while, while we were drifting out in open sea,” Nasau, 14, told The Associated Press. “We prayed every day that someone will find us and rescue us. We thought we would die.”
A handful of coconuts
In a shy, quiet voice, Nasau spoke Saturday from his hospital bed in Fiji, where the trio were brought a day earlier and treated for dehydration, bad sunburn and malnourishment.
Nasau, also known as Edward, and his two 15-year-old cousins, Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo, jumped into the 12-foot-long boat, known locally as a “tinnie,” in late September to make what they thought was a short journey between islands in their archipelago home of Tokelau.
They ran out of fuel for their outboard motor and began drifting out to sea. As land retreated from sight, they contemplated the handful of coconuts they had brought with them to snack on — and the little else in the boat.
Day after day, the teens sat helpless in the open craft under a beating tropical sun, scouring the horizon for signs of land or a passing boat.
On many nights, rainstorms churned the sea and lashed the boat. The boys threw themselves to the bottom of the boat, clutching the sides and trying to keep it from capsizing. Though terrifying, the storms also brought a lifeline: rainwater for them to sip.
“We ate flying fish, very small ones that jump into our boat, about 5 inches,” said Nasau, looking thin and weak, but relieved. “The last time we ate one was last week, if I recall.”
Once, a bird perched on the boat and Pelesa managed to snatch it with his bare hands. The hungry boys tore at the bird and shared the meat, raw.
One night, the boys’ hopes for rescue soared when they spotted lights they thought must be a ship, then plunged again when they realized that they had no light and that those on board would never see them in the dark.
“We saw one big ship at nighttime, but it’s too far, we couldn’t do anything,” Nasau said. “So we just sat down and looked at it” as it passed by.
This time, during the day
Last Wednesday, at least 55 days into the boys’ ordeal, the deep-sea tuna boat San Nikuna came into view on its way to its home port in New Zealand — this time during the day.
First mate Tai Fredricsen said the crew were amazed to see a small boat out so far and in a region rarely used by any vessels. They were even more stunned to see the bedraggled boys waving for help. They had drifted more than 800 miles from Tokelau.
The boys have responded quickly to rehydration treatment. Twenty-four hours after arriving in Fiji, Pelesa and Filo had been released from the hospital and were staying with the consular staff from New Zealand, which administers Tokelau as a territory. Only Nasau remained in the hospital.
