A 15-year-old boy has been rescued from the Bering Sea after spending days stranded on the hull of his capsized fishing boat. The teenager, identified by his family as Derek Parker Aghnaanga from the village of Savoonga, was the sole survivor of a maritime accident that claimed the lives of his older brother and his cousin.
The three individuals had departed from St. Lawrence Island—a remote Alaskan location situated significantly closer to Russia than the American mainland—on an 18-foot vessel on Friday, September 4. When the group failed to return by the expected time on Sunday afternoon, the United States Coast Guard initiated a search operation to locate the missing boaters.
Rescue and Recovery in the Bering Sea
On Monday morning, a Coast Guard aircraft identified the teenager sitting atop the overturned vessel. Following the discovery, the Coast Guard coordinated with the Northwest Explorer, a nearby fishing boat, to conduct the rescue. The crew of the Northwest Explorer successfully retrieved the teenager from the water, where he had been clinging to the boat for days in temperatures of approximately 10 degrees Celsius.
Captain Adam White, who commanded the rescue vessel, described the teenager as exceptionally resilient. Upon being pulled to safety, the boy exhibited signs of hypothermia but remained conscious. During the rescue, the teenager informed the crew that his brother remained trapped beneath the capsized skiff, and that his cousin had slipped into the water the previous night. The crew of the Northwest Explorer subsequently recovered the bodies of the two men, who were identified as 35-year-old Sidney Kulowiyi and 34-year-old Barton Rookok.
Community Impact and Recovery
The teenager’s mother, Vina Kulowiyi, stated that her son survived without food or water for two days after the boat capsized on Saturday. She noted that the group had been fishing to provide food for their community in Savoonga, a village of approximately 800 residents where traditional hunting and fishing practices remain central to daily life. Describing her son’s experience, she shared that he remained calm throughout the ordeal and is now in the process of recovering at home.
The rescue operation concluded with the teenager being transported toward Nome to reunite with his family. The incident has drawn attention to the dangers faced by those navigating the remote waters surrounding St. Lawrence Island, where local families frequently rely on small-scale fishing to support their community.
