FIVE THINGS ABOUT THREE CASTAWAYS
1 SPOTTED
Three people were rescued from a deserted island in the Bahamas on Tuesday after being stranded for 33 days. A U.S. Coast Guard detected one woman and two men on Monday in Anguilla Cay, a small unpopulated island in the Bahamas located between Cuba and the U.S, ABC News reported. The guard was patrolling the area when they spotted a handmade flag and a large cross on the island. “We were alerted to them by the flags that they actually had in addition to a large cross that they put out there for themselves,” Mike Allert, the aircraft commander who headed the rescue helicopter, told WPLG.
2 THE RESCUE
The coast guard airdropped food, water and radio to communicate with the trio but was only able to rescue them on Tuesday due to bad weather, Global News reported. The crew returned the next day and airlifted the survivors to the helicopter within 30 minutes, Allert told ABC News. Officials later announced on Twitter that all three people were successfully rescued and deployed to Lower Keys Medical Centre in Key West, Fla. They also released a video dropping the radio, food and water to the castaways.
3 THEIR CONDITION
All three showed signs of dehydration and fatigue due to lack of fresh water but did not report any injuries, Allert told Yahoo! News. He also said they are in good condition, given the time they had stayed on the island. It remains unknown how the castaways appeared on the island, Allert told ABC News.
4 HOW DID THEY SURVIVE?
The castaways had survived by eating coconuts, meat from conch shells and rats, according to the coast guard, but they were in “dire straits” due to the lack of fresh water, Allert said. “That is pretty extraordinary. It was incredible,” Justin Dougherty, a lieutenant of the U.S. Coast Guard, told WPLG. “I don’t know how they did it. I am amazed that they were in such good shape. ”“thanks to our aircrews diligently conducting routine patrols, we were able to spot people in distress and intervene,” Sean Connett, command duty officer at Coast Guard Seventh District, told Global News.
5 THEIR IDENTITIES
The U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Murray told the South Florida Sun-sentinel they could not determine immediately whether the rescued trio was migrants who tried to reach the U.S. or another country, or if they were fishermen lost at sea.