Family adrift six days in skiff found by U.S. and New Zealand rescuers

by Des Ryan on 9 Nov 2010 A family that set out for a six mile cruise in a 13ft skiff were lost for six days in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean after their outboard engine failed. They have now been rescued.

After their home nation of Kiribati made an international appeal for help, The U.S. Coast Guard and the New Zealand Air Force cooperated to try to locate the missing family.

They were spotted drifting in their boat by the New Zealand Air Force. A fast rescue ship was then dispatched by the U.S. Coast Guard to pick then up 2,300 miles south of Hawaii and 230 miles from the atoll of Butaritari, the nearest body of land.

The family - a 53-year-old man, a woman aged 54 and two boys aged seven and eight - have been treated for mild hypothermia, malnourishment and dehydration.

The group had departed from Kiribati aboard their sailing vessel on October 31. After their outboard motor failed, and they could not reach the shore, the family were then left adrift in open water without a radio or water and with only a small amount of food for nourishment.

Captain James McCauley, commanding officer of the USCG cutter that rescued the family after a New Zealand air force plane spotted the boat, told CNN that the family's skiff had drifted 'over 200 miles' from their home after embarking.

'The coast guard district in Honolulu had laid out several search areas, one for my ship the Rush and three for our helicopter wing,' Capt McCauley told CNN.

'We searched a total of 600 square miles and when a New Zealand air force aircraft arrived on scene, they located the vessel after about a half hour of searching and we were arrive a few hours later just before sunset and come aboard the boat.'

The family's small aluminium vessel had been floating without any protection for almost a week yet its passengers were in 'pretty good condition', Capt McCauley claimed.

'They were glad to get aboard [our] ship and get a warm shower, a soft bed to lay down in and a few good meals before we got them back home the next day,' he explained.

Kiribati, a South Pacific nation composed of 33 coral atolls that straddle the Equator - had made an international appeal for help with the rescue operation on Thursday.