Two men, a woman and a little girl survived 32 days after drifting in the southern Pacific Ocean, a Solomon Islands daily reported on Wednesday.
A group of 12 people set sail on December 22 from the province of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, with the intention of celebrating Christmas in the Carteret Islands, 100 kilometers away. During their short trip, the boat capsized and its passengers were left alone in the world in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 8 people died and four survived this hell.
Indeed, the survivors told the daily that 5 people, with whom they had embarked, had perished by drowning. The others managed to right the small boat, but some later died during the long drift in waters crossed by strong ocean currents.
“We couldn’t do anything with their corpses, we had to abandon them at sea,” said Dominic Stally. “A couple died, leaving a baby. I took care of the baby, but later the baby died too.”
To survive, the castaways ate coconuts that floated on the surface of the sea and collected rainwater.
According to Dominic Stally, several fishing boats passed nearby without spotting the shipwrecked. But finally the survivors were collected on January 23 off New Caledonia after having drifted for 32 days over nearly 2,000 kilometers.
The four survivors were landed on Saturday in the port of Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands. After receiving rehydration therapy, they all left the hospital.
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