A 15-year-old Alaska boy survived for more than two days on the overturned hull of an 18-foot fishing skiff after his older brother and cousin died in the frigid Bering Sea, according to family members and rescuers.
Video of the rescue obtained by KTUU-TV shows the teen alone on the exposed hull as the Northwest Explorer closes in.
The crew hauled him aboard, where captain Adam White said the boy was able to explain what had happened despite his “chattering teeth” — telling rescuers that his brother was still beneath the skiff and that his cousin had slipped off the hull the previous night.
White said the crew kept him talking as they tried to warm him and get him to Nome.
The teenager was spotted by a Coast Guard aircrew at about 10:30 a.m. local time Monday, roughly four miles east of St. Lawrence Island, showing symptoms of hypothermia.
A nearby fishing vessel was directed to the scene after the Coast Guard dropped a life raft and survival equipment to the boy.
Before the aircraft had to leave to refuel, its crew laid a line of flares across the water to guide the Northwest Explorer to the overturned skiff.
The teen had set out from Savoonga with his 35-year-old brother, Sidney Kulowiyi, and their 34-year-old cousin, Barton Rookok, on Friday for a halibut fishing trip.
The boat was expected back at about 3 a.m. Sunday but never returned.
Family spokesman Darren Toolie-Noongwook told KTUU that a fishing line became tangled in the motor and caused the skiff to flip.
Kulowiyi then became caught in the line and was pulled beneath the boat, according to the family’s account.
Toolie-Noongwook said the teenager and Rookok managed to climb onto the overturned hull and spent the first night there together.
During the following night, he said, Rookok became distressed, entered the water and drowned, leaving the boy alone on the skiff.
Captain Adam White of the Northwest Explorer said the teen later told him that his brother was still beneath the boat and that his cousin had slipped away during the previous night.
The Coast Guard has not publicly determined what caused the skiff to capsize.
The family said the teenager survived without food or drinking water as waves struck the overturned hull and spent part of the nights kneeling and praying.
Exactly how long he remained there is unclear.
Toolie-Noongwook said the boat flipped at about 8:03 p.m. Friday, which would mean the boy spent more than 62 hours on the overturned vessel before the Coast Guard spotted him Monday morning.
But an aunt separately told the Associated Press that she had been told the boat capsized Saturday night.
The Coast Guard has not released an official time for the capsize.
Rescuers also gave varying estimates of the water temperature, ranging from about 40 to 50 degrees.
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