An Indonesian teen who was stranded at sea for 49 days has been rescued. The teen was washed into the waters of Guam when the moorings of a floating fish trap broke.
Aldi Novel Adilang, 19, from Sulawesi, Indonesia was working as a lamp keeper on the fish trap known as rompongs—small huts that sit in buoys or floats and are anchored to concrete blocks on the seafloor by rope. Aldi was required to light the lamps on the rompong to attract fish.
He usually spends the entire week on his floating hut, which was situated some 125 kms off the northern coast of Manado, North Sulawesi. At the end of the week, the contractor who hired Aldi would sent someone to collect the fish and drop Aldi's week's worth of supplies—food, gas for cooking, clean water and fuel for the generator, the Jakarta Post said. He also had a radio and a bible.
Local media reported that the owner of Adilang's rompong had as many as 50 moored in the surrounding waters. "His boss told my husband that he went missing," Adilang's mother Net Kahiking told AFP from her home in Sulawesi. "So we just surrendered to God and kept praying hard."
As the rompong has no paddle or engine, there was no way to steer it. Aldi survived by catching fish and drinking sea water. After his cooking gas ran out he used the wooden parts of the boat to create a fire and drank the water from his clothes that had been made wet by sea water, the Jakarta Post said.
The teen, who only had enough food to last several days, survived by catching fish, Mirza Nurhidayat, the Indonesian consul general in Osaka, who oversaw his eventual return, told the Jakarta Post.
According to Aldi, hard winds on July 14 caused high waves which resulted in the anchor rope breaking. He told CNN that he had communication with friends on another raft for a week but was alone after that. During his 49-day ordeal, 10 ships sailed past Aldi and failed to spot him.
Aldi said he had been scared and "often cried when adrift," Fajar Firdaus, a diplomat at the Indonesian Consulate in Osaka, Japan, told the Jakarta Post. "Every time he saw a large ship, he said he was hopeful, but more than 10 ships had passed him, none of them stopped."
Finally a Panama-flagged vessel, Arpeggio, rescued him from Guam waters. Aldi used his radio to catch the attention of the captain of the ship. His friend had once told him to use a particular frequency if he is ever blown away and sees a large ship.
Indonesian consul general in Osaka, Mirza Nurhidayat said, the captain of the ship Arpeggio realised someone was calling for help and turned back and rescued Aldi. Even his rescue seems to have been a tough task as the waves were too high and Aldi was finding it difficult to catch the rope. He had to jump into the water to reach the rope finally and the crew pulled him into the ship.
Aldi was taken care of by the crew of the ship who gave him emergency snack and fresh clothes. He was even given a hair cut. His family was informed by the Indonesian authorities who coordinated with the shipping authorities in Japan, the ship’s captain, the Japanese coast guard and the immigration authorities.
Further delays awaited Aldi before he could unite with his family. He had to be quarantined for health reasons before entering Japan. An Indonesia government staff was sent to oversee his process as there was language barrier. On September 7, Aldi got the permission to enter Japan, and on September 8 he flew from Japan to Jakarta. Jebi typhoon in Osaka caused more delay, and Aldi was brought to an airport in Tokyo. The next day, he arrived in Manado in North Sulawesi and was back with his family in Wori.
Adilang is the youngest of four siblings and arrived back home on September 8, in good health despite his ordeal. "He is now back at home and he will be 19 on September 30—we're going to celebrate," his mother said.
