‘I just prayed every day’
INDONESIAN TEEN SURVIVES 49 DAYS ADRIFT AT SEA ON WOODEN FISHING RAFT
An Indonesian teenager who survived 49 days adrift on the Pacific Ocean after his wooden fish trap slipped its moorings says he ran out of food within a week and survived on fish and seawater he squeezed from his clothing.
Aldi Novel Adilang, 18, said on Monday that he turned on a lamp every time he sighted another ship and can’t remember how many passed by “unaware of my ordeal.”
Since the age of 16 he has held one of the world’s loneliest jobs: lamp lighter on a rompong — a wooden raft with a hut on top that’s lit at night to attract fish. The rompong does not have a paddle or an engine and was moored about 125 kilometres off the coast of North Sulawesi in Indonesia.
The coastline is not visible from the fishing rafts and the numerous rompong are kilometres apart, said Adilang’s mother, Net Kahiking. Supplies including food and fuel for a generator are dropped off about once a week. The minders, who earn US$130 a month, communicate with fishing boats by hand-held radio.
“I was on the raft for one month and 18 days. My food ran out after the first week,” said Adilang.
When it didn’t rain for days, “I had to soak my clothes in the sea, then I squeezed and drank the water.”
He caught fish and cooked it by burning the rompong’ wooden fences.
Adilang struggled to keep his spirits up when 10 passing ships failed to notice his plight.
“Aldi said he had been scared and often cried when adrift. Every time he saw a large ship, he said he was hopeful, but more than 10 ships passed him, and none of them stopped,” said Fajar Firdaus, an Indonesian diplomat in the southern Japanese city of Osaka.
The Indonesian Consulate in Osaka said the teen was rescued by the Panamanian-flagged MV Arpeggio off Guam on Aug. 31, about 1,920 kilometres from his original location, and returned to Indonesia with officials earlier this month.
The boy’s father, Alfian Adilang, said the family is overjoyed at his return but angry with his employer. It was the third time the teen’s raft had drifted. The previous two times it had been rescued by the owner’s ship, the boy said.
The rafts are anchored with ropes and Aldi 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.
Adilang’s portable radio, known as a handy-talky or HT in Indonesia, would prove to be a lifesaver.
“It was early morning on Aug. 31 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,” he said. “Then they talked on the HT.”
The rescue was complicated by high waves but the Arpeggio’s crew members reportedly threw a rope to help him as the tanker circled his tiny craft.
In desperation, Aldi jumped into the water to reach it, but after weeks at sea, he was already weak and almost lost the rope. The ship’s crew are said to have eventually caught hold of his hand and he was pulled to safety.
The Arpeggio contacted the Indonesian mission in Japan when it docked in Tokuyama and officials from the Osaka consulate collected him on Sept. 6, the consulate said. He returned to Indonesia on Sept. 8.
Adilang, who is the youngest son of four siblings, said he no longer wants to work on a rompong.
“My parents agree,” he said.