15-YEAR-OLD ALASKA BOY SURVIVES 62 HOURS AT SEA AFTER BROTHER AND COUSIN DIE
A 15-year-old Alaska boy somehow survived more than 62 hours stranded in the frigid Bering Sea, clinging to an overturned fishing boat after watching both his older brother and cousin die.
Derek Parker Aghnaanga, 15, left the remote village of Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island on Friday, Sept. 4, for a halibut fishing trip with his older brother, 35-year-old Sidney Kulowiyi, and their 34-year-old cousin, Barton Rookok.
But the fishing trip turned into an unimaginable fight for survival.
According to a family spokesman, a fishing line became tangled in the motor of their 18-foot skiff, causing the boat to overturn.
Sidney reportedly became entangled in the line and was pulled beneath the overturned boat.
Derek and Barton were able to climb onto the exposed hull of the skiff, where they desperately held on in the middle of the Bering Sea.
For a time, Derek wasn’t alone.
His cousin was right there beside him.
But during the following night, Barton reportedly became distressed and ended up in the water, where he drowned.
That left 15-year-old Derek completely alone — surrounded by miles of freezing ocean with no food, no drinking water and no way of knowing whether anyone would find him.
The water was reportedly around 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
The boat had been expected back around 3 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 6. When the group failed to return, authorities were notified and a massive search effort began. Poor weather and dense fog initially complicated the search.
Then, on Monday morning, came the sight rescuers had desperately hoped for.
A U.S. Coast Guard aircrew spotted the overturned skiff approximately four miles from St. Lawrence Island.
And there was someone on top of it.
Derek was still alive.
Lt. Cmdr. Jonathon Resch, who spotted the teenager, described finding him as nothing short of miraculous, noting how unlikely it is for someone to survive multiple nights after a boat capsizes — especially in such cold water.
The Coast Guard dropped survival equipment and a life raft and directed the nearby fishing vessel Northwest Explorer toward Derek’s location.
Video captured the incredible moment rescuers finally reached him. Derek could be seen kneeling on the overturned hull before the crew pulled him aboard.
Captain Adam White said the teenager was suffering from hypothermia and his teeth were chattering, but he was still able to tell rescuers what had happened.
He told them his brother was beneath the overturned skiff and that his cousin had gone into the water the previous night.
Crew members wrapped Derek in blankets, worked to warm him and kept him talking as they transported him toward Nome.
The bodies of Sidney and Barton were also recovered.
Derek had survived an estimated 62 hours at sea — much of it clinging to the hull of an overturned boat while enduring bitter cold, darkness, hunger, dehydration and the devastating deaths of two members of his own family.
His survival has stunned even experienced rescuers.
But what should have been an entirely joyful reunion was instead painfully bittersweet: a 15-year-old boy was coming home alive while his family was simultaneously preparing to mourn two men who never made it back.
The Coast Guard praised the Northwest Explorer crew, first responders and other agencies involved in the search while offering condolences to the families of the two men who died.
