Five people, including two children, were rescued this week on the South Pacific island of Kiribati after three months adrift at sea aboard a 20-foot skiff, authorities said. Four others remained missing.
Villagers rescued the group Sunday off Fanning Island in Kiribati, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported, after they drifted about 3,355 miles east of the Federated States of Micronesia.
The U.S. Coast Guard on Guam confirmed Tuesday that the boat with nine people on board had been reported missing after it failed to return to the island of Ruo in Micronesia on July 30. The group was then making a one-hour crossing between the islands of Murilo and Ruo, ABC reported.
A 10-day search covering 33,000 square miles followed with no sign of the missing boat or the people on board, according to the release.
“This is incredible and wonderful news that these five people have been found and are receiving treatment,” the U.S. Coast Guard said in an email to The Associated Press.
“Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of those who did not arrive with them,” the email added.
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Asked by the AP what happened to the missing four, the U.S. Coast Guard said it was continuing to gather and confirm information and would respond as soon as possible.
Kiribati MP Kaotitaake Rakoroa told ABC the survivors were being cared for by a pastor on the island.
Nurse Paukin Tororo told ABC on Monday that all five were severely dehydrated and malnourished. They were put on intravenous drips and showed signs of recovery.
“They can smile, they show the sign that they want to eat,” she told ABC.
The survivors have not yet spoken publicly about their ordeal and have asked for privacy, the Australian channel reported. ABC said the group went missing after their boat was caught in a storm.
The governor of Micronesia’s Chuuk state, Alexander Narruhn, issued a statement on Sunday saying he had begun negotiations with the Kiribati government to repatriate the survivors.
“There were nine people missing on the boat. Thank God for his love and mercy, five of the nine people were found,” Narruhn said through an interpreter.
Iuliia Anisimova / Getty Images 
“We continue to pray for their four companions,” he added. Narruhn did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment.
Other rescues in the Pacific
There have been previous incidents in which people were lost at sea among the tiny island chains that dot the Pacific Ocean. An Australian survived more than two months lost at sea in 2023 with his dog Bella after rough seas damaged their boat and its electronic system. Tim Shaddock, 51, was traveling from Mexico to French Polynesia but found himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean for more than two months. Shaddock and his canine companion survived by drinking rainwater and eating raw fish that Shaddock had caught, he said. They were spotted by a helicopter and rescued in July 2023.
Two American sailors and their two dogs were rescued after five months at sea in the Pacific in 2017. Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiaba were discovered 900 miles southeast of Japan by a Taiwanese fishing vessel, the US Navy said at the time. The ship’s engine failed due to bad weather and they were unable to land using the ship’s sails. The women said the boat had drifted and no vessel was close enough to hear their distress calls. Water purifiers and a year’s supply of food aboard the ship kept them alive, the Navy said.
In 2024, three fishermen found themselves stranded on a remote island in Micronesia for over a week. They were rescued after using palm leaves to spell “HELP” in large letters on a beach.
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