Important Takeaways:

• Three castaways who were stranded on a remote Pacific islet for days were rescued this week after spelling out “HELP” with palm fronds on the beach, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
• The trio of men, all mariners in their 40s, ventured out to go fishing near Pikelot atoll in a 20-foot open skiff with an outboard motor, the Coast Guard said, noting that the three had “experience in navigating these waters.”
• But their motor was damaged and stopped working, leaving the castaways stuck for more than a week on the tiny uninhabited island, surviving on coconuts and water from a well.
• A U.S. Navy aircraft dispatched from an air base in Japan spotted the help sign drawn with palm fronds on the beach, narrowing an initial search area that stretched over 78,000 square nautical miles, according to a Coast Guard statement
• That aircraft dropped “survival packages” for the trio, and a crew from an air station in Hawaii then dropped a radio to contact the men
• They ate meat from coconuts, and “water was available through a well on the island,” Muir told the paper. She said they had enough food to survive, “but not for much longer.”

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