Two men survived 29 days aboard a boat in the Pacific drinking rainwater and eating coconuts

Two men from the Solomon Islands were rescued to safety off the coast of Papua New Guinea after being lost aboard a ship in the Pacific Ocean for 29 days and survive by drinking rainwater and eating coconuts, media reported.

Livae Nanjikana and Junior Qoloni traveled more than 400 kilometers while they were adrift before being found by a fisherman on October 2 off Papua New Guinea.

The two men they traveled between two islands in the unpredictable Solomon Islands sea, when his seven-meter ship was sighted caught in a storm, September 3.

“We got lost in torrential rains, dense dark clouds and high winds,” Nanjikana told Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation television in the past few hours.

In addition to the fact that they could barely distinguish the heading due to the bad weather, the aircraft GPS that they took with them to orient themselves out of battery, and under these circumstances and late at night, they decided to shut down their boat’s engine “to save fuel” and wait for the storm to pass.

Waves and winds eventually dragged them farther and farther from their point of origin, their destination and the mainland.

During the first nine days they fed on the oranges they had brought for the trip, but when supplies ran out they survived on rainwater, of coconuts “already to us Faith in god because we pray day and night, ”said Livae Nanjikana, according to the news agency AFP.

Collecting the rainwater in a canvas bag, the two men started their engine as soon as they saw a coconut in the sea and rushed to retrieve it.

“After several days, we had the idea of build a device to navigate. So we built a mast-shaped structure with oars and canvas and set the sails following the direction of the wind, ”explained the man.

The sail took them to the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea, where they saw a fisherman from afar, so they restarted the engine to get closer, how low they had fuel.

On October 2, they arrived in the District of Pomio, where they received medical treatment and food.

For now, they remain in Pomio, on the island of New Britain, while steps are taken to transfer them to the Solomon Islands.

With information from Telam.