Three sailors wrote HELP in English with palm leaves on the white sand beach of a remote Pacific Island. The sign helped the US Coast Guard (USCG) and the US Navy to rescue them from the island where the three sailors were stranded for a week in the first week of April 2024. In a statement, the USCG has mentioned that the three sailors are in their 40s and a US Navy aircraft rescued them after spotting the HELP sign.

According to the USCG, the US Navy aircraft rescued the sailors on April 9 (2024) from Pikelot Island, one of the outer islands of the State of Yap, part of the Federated States of Micronesia. It is a low coral islet, with a wet and tropical climate. The 32-acre islet is an uninhabited one. Without revealing the identities and nationalities of those three sailors, the USCG said in a statement that they remained healthy, at the time they were rescued.

Talking to the media, Lieutenant Chelsea Garcia, the Coordinator of Search and Rescue Mission, stressed: “This act of ingenuity was pivotal in guiding rescue efforts directly to their location. This successful operation underscores the effective coordination and partnership between the US Coast Guard, the US Navy and regional partners. We extend our gratitude to everyone involved.“

The USCG mentioned in the statement that the three men had gone on an Easter fishing trip on March 31. However, the outboard motor of their 20ft open skiff sailboat got damaged, becoming non-functional. The incident left them stranded on the Pikelot Atoll. When they did not return home even after six days, the niece of one of those sailors informed the Police. Her move prompted the USCG and the US Navy to launch a search and rescue operation that spanned over 78,000 nautical miles.

Initially, the rescue operation was hampered because of poor weather conditions. A US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft first spotted the three sailors on the Pikelot Island on March 7 after noticing the sign, and dropped packets of drinking water and food from the plane. Finally, the US Navy aircraft reached the island on April 9 to rescue them. Later, a USCG ship took them to Polowat as per their wish.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das