Teenager survives 49 days adrift at sea on wooden fishing raft
An Indonesian teenager has survived 49 days adrift at sea after the wooden fish trap he was employed to mind slipped its moorings.
Aldi Novel Adilang said he ran out of food within a week and survived on fish and seawater he strained through his clothing.
The 18-year-old added that he turned on a lamp every time he sighted a ship and cannot remember how many passed by “unaware of my ordeal”.
He was rescued by a Panamanian-flagged vessel off Guam on 31 August, about 1,200 miles from his original location, and returned to Indonesia with officials earlier this month, according to the Indonesian consulate in Osaka, Japan.
The teenager had been employed since the age of 16 in one of the world’s loneliest jobs: lamp lighter on a rompong – a wooden fishing raft with a hut on top – moored about 78 miles off the coast of North Sulawesi.
The coastline is not visible from the fishing rafts and the numerous rompong are miles apart from one another, said Mr Adilang’s mother, Met Kahiking.
Supplies are dropped off to the light keepers about once a week.
“I was on the raft for one month and 18 days. My food ran out after the first week,” said Mr Adilang.
When it did not rain for days “I had to soak my clothes in the sea, then I squeezed and drank the water”, he said.
His portable radio, known as a handy-talky or HT in Indonesia, would prove to be a lifesaver.
“It was early morning on 31 August when I saw the ship and I lighted up the lamp and shouted ‘help’ using the HT,” he said.
“The ship had passed about one mile but then it turned to me. Might be because I used the English word. Then they talked on the HT.”
The teenager’s father, Alfian Adilang, said the family is overjoyed at his return but angry with his employer.
The rafts are anchored with ropes and Mr Adilang said strong friction caused them to break.
“I thought I will never meet my parents again, so I just prayed every day,” he said.
He returned to Indonesia on 8 September.
The MV Arpeggio, which rescued Mr Adilang off Guam, contacted the Indonesian mission in Osaka when it docked and officials collected him on 6 September, the Osaka consulate said in a statement.
Mirza Nurhidayat, the Indonesian consul general in Osaka, said: “Aldi’s story is indeed dramatic, and we are thankful to all – the ship’s captain and the Japanese authorities – that have been very helpful in ensuring Aldi’s return.”
The teenager, who is the youngest son of four siblings, said he no longer wants to work on a rompong.
“My parents agree,” he said.