Couple Lost at Sea for More than a Month return Home to Kiribati

Lost at sea for more than a month after their boat engine failed, a couple from the Pacific island of Kiribati are finally flying home today on Continental Micronesia.

“The story of how this couple survived more than a month at sea is miraculous,” said Continental Micronesia Staff Vice President of Marketing and Sales Walter Dias. “It’s also a heartwarming story of the warmth and hospitality of the Pacific islanders who took this couple in. Being part of this tradition of hospitality in the islands is why we wanted to help,” said Dias. 

The couple is leaving Chuuk on their journey home with complimentary air travel provided by Continental Micronesia.

On December 30, 2005, the couple took their 19-foot wooden boat with a 40 h.p. outboard motor from Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati, to an outer island to pick up a relative. Just as they were a few miles away from their relative’s island, the outboard motor died and winds pushed them far away. The Kiribati government called a search and rescue, but it was not successful. 

The couple drifted for more than a month, almost two thousand kilometers from their country of Kiribati. Finally a fishing vessel’s helicopter spotted the wooden boat close to the island of Kapingamarangi, south of Pohnpei. The chopper picked up the couple and brought them to the mother ship, which in turn took them to Chuuk, according to Mason Fritz, Director of Chuuk Visitors Bureau, who has been helping to take care of the couple.

They have been recovering on the island of Chuuk under the care of several good Samaritans and the hospitality of the local people.

“The couple has traveled a long distance from their home, and we’re glad to reunite them with their 10-year-old son,” said Continental Micronesia President and Chief Executive Officer Mark A. Erwin. “We fly these long distances across the Pacific, and how they survived the vast Pacific is nothing short of a miracle,” Erwin said. 

The couple’s ten-year-old son has been waiting in Tarawas since the couple left last year.

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