Sea Tragedy off Nauru - five rescued, three dead

7:47 AM Wed 18 Nov 2009 GMT

'Sea Tragedy' .

Malnourished crew of a vessel which had lost power and drifted unknown for two months north of New Guinea have been discovered off the coast of Nauru.

A helicopter belonging to a US-flagged fishing vessel, the Ocean Encounter, spotted the boat as it drifted off Nauru on Sunday. Seven men were on board but two died after being rescued by the US crew.

The five survivors are now in hospital in Majuro in the Marshall Islands, thousands of kilometres from where they first set sail.

The men were reported to be in very serious stages of malnutrition when they arrived, with only one of the men able to walk.

The group - initially of eight men - told rescuers they had been making a short crossing in Papua New Guinea's New Ireland province on the 14th September when they ran out of petrol.

The idyllic New Ireland is to the north east of the mainland of New Guinea. It is the long narrow Island north of New Britain and the province also includes a number of islands off the north west end. The people are reputed to be warm and hospitable and welcome the visitor to their tropical island ways.

The men said they had seen a number of vessels while they were adrift but failed to attract their attention.

To add to the tragedy, last Friday one of the eight - a 17-year-old boy - died after jumping overboard to rescue clothing that had blown away. The crew reported that neither the boy nor any of the crew had enough strength to get him back into the boat.

A second man died shortly after the US vessel rescued them and a third man just hours before the vessel arrived in the port of Majuro on Tuesday evening.

The five survivors were said to be in a stable condition in hospital in the Marshall Islands.

by Sail-World Round-up

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