3 Men Rescued from Pacific Island After Writing ‘Help’ With Palm Leaves

3 Men Rescued from Pacific Island After Writing ‘Help’ With Palm Leaves
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3 Men Rescued from Pacific Island After Writing ‘Help’ With Palm Leaves

3 Men Rescued from Pacific Island After Writing ‘Help’ With Palm Leaves

A trio of sailors who spent more than a week stranded on a remote, uninhabited atoll in the Pacific were rescued by the US Coast Guard after a search and rescue team spotted a giant sign spelling ‘HELP’ the men had constructed from palm fronds on the beach.

The sailors, identified as three men in their 40s with sailing experience, set out from Polowat Atoll, southeast of Guam, on 31 March.

Their boat, a 20-foot open skiff with an outboard motor, sustained damage and the men were stranded on Pikelot Atoll, The Independent reported.

Nearly a week later, on 6 April, the US Joint Rescue Sub-Center in Guam got a distress call from a relative of the sailors, saying they hadn’t returned from Pikelot.

The call prompted US officials to begin a rescue operation spanning an area of over 78,000 nautical miles.

The following day, a US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft operating out of Kadena Air Force Base in Japan spotted the mariners, along with a crude shelter they’d erected on the beach and dropped them survival packages.

On 8 April, a US Coast Guard HC-130J Hercules aircraft flew over the stranded men, dropping a radio to the missing sailors.

The men radioed back that they were “in good health” and “had access to food and water,” according to the Coast Guard. They had been surviving by eating coconuts.

The next day, a Coast Guard ship, the USCGC Oliver Henry, which had been diverted from its original course to join the rescue, picked up the sailors.



Disasters Loom over South Asia with Forecast of Hotter, Wetter Monsoon

The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
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Disasters Loom over South Asia with Forecast of Hotter, Wetter Monsoon

The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)

Communities across Asia's Himalayan Hindu Kush region face heightened disaster risks this monsoon season with temperatures and rainfall expected to exceed normal levels, experts warned on Thursday.

Temperatures are expected to be up to two degrees Celsius hotter than average across the region, with forecasts for above-average rains, according to a monsoon outlook released by Kathmandu-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on Wednesday.

"Rising temperatures and more extreme rain raise the risk of water-induced disasters such as floods, landslides, and debris flows, and have longer-term impacts on glaciers, snow reserves, and permafrost," Arun Bhakta Shrestha, a senior adviser at ICIMOD, said in a statement.

The summer monsoon, which brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall, is vital for agriculture and therefore for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and for food security in a region that is home to around two billion people.

However, it also brings destruction through landslides and floods every year. Melting glaciers add to the volume of water, while unregulated construction in flood-prone areas exacerbates the damage.

"What we have seen over the years are also cascading disasters where, for example, heavy rainfall can lead to landslides, and landslides can actually block rivers. We need to be aware about such possibilities," Saswata Sanyal, manager of ICIMOD's Disaster Risk Reduction work, told AFP.

Last year's monsoon season brought devastating landslides and floods across South Asia and killed hundreds of people, including more than 300 in Nepal.

This year, Nepal has set up a monsoon response command post, led by its National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

"We are coordinating to stay prepared and to share data and alerts up to the local level for early response. Our security forces are on standby for rescue efforts," said agency spokesman Ram Bahadur KC.

Weather-related disasters are common during the monsoon season from June to September but experts say climate change, coupled with urbanization, is increasing their frequency and severity.

The UN's World Meteorological Organization said last year that increasingly intense floods and droughts are a "distress signal" of what is to come as climate change makes the planet's water cycle ever more unpredictable.