A 15-year-old boy from Nome is recovering after surviving 62 hours adrift in the Bering Sea, an ordeal in which he watched his brother and cousin die before he was finally spotted and pulled from the water.
Derek Parker Aghnaanga had been out fishing for halibut with his cousin and brother when their small skiff capsized near St. Lawrence Island on Sept. 4 and drifted into open water.
He was the only one of the three to survive.
According to Adam White, captain of the fishing vessel Northwest Explorer, Aghnaanga described what happened to the other two men once he was pulled aboard, still shivering from the cold.
“Through the teeth chattering, he had mentioned that his brother was still under the skiff and then he said that in the previous night before our rescue that his cousin had slipped away off the top of the skiff,” White told Alaska’s News Source.
Alaska State Troopers alerted the Coast Guard on Sunday night after the fishing party failed to return home. The Coast Guard spotted the teen clinging to the overturned skiff around 10:30 a.m. Monday and asked the Northwest Explorer, which had a crew of 13 aboard, to make the pickup.
“We saw the unusual object on the horizon. We blasted our horn a couple times,” White said.
Rescue footage shows the crew approaching the capsized boat as it becomes clear someone is still alive on top of it. White described the conditions as brutal.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s remarkable, and it’s cold. The water is 10 degrees Celsius,” White said.
By the time crew members hauled him aboard the Northwest Explorer, a vessel that also carries scientists, Aghnaanga was showing signs of hypothermia. Crew members wrapped him in blankets and kept him talking as the boat made its way toward Nome, where his family was waiting.
A family member told Alaska’s News Source that Aghnaanga’s brother, 35-year-old Sidney Kulowiyi, and his cousin, 34-year-old Barton Rookok, both slipped off the overturned skiff and drowned during the ordeal. Kulowiyi, the boat’s captain, died after becoming trapped underneath the vessel. Aghnaanga’s mother said her son held on for days with no food or water.
“Saturday, all the way to Tuesday, that kid was on top of that skiff. I mean, that’s one tough kid,” White said.
A GoFundMe campaign set up to help Aghnaanga’s family with funeral expenses has nearly reached its $40,000 goal.
