No. 149

Fishermen unravel family mystery after month at sea

Two men from the Pacific nation of Kiribati who were lost at sea for a month have managed not only to survive, but to unravel a 50-year-old family mystery.

Uein Buranibwe, 53, and Temaei Tontaake, 26, made headlines late last month when they washed ashore in the Marshall Islands after 33 days lost at sea.

They were more than 600 kilometres from home.

Their global satellite positioning system had run out of batteries after they left their island on what should have been an 80km trip to get gas.

Marshall Islands Journal editor Giff Johnson says the men found much-needed food and water on Namdrik Island.

But he also says that one of the men discovered that his uncle, feared drowned at sea 50 years earlier, had also wound up on the same atoll and married into the community.

"That was a pretty pleasant surprise to drift at sea for 33 days and wind up on an island where you've got family members," Mr Johnson said.

"He was a young man when he was lost at sea and floated in to Namdrik - this would have been in the maybe the late 1950s or early 1960s.

"[The uncle had] set out, got lost and drifted ashore on Namdrik, there were no communications so [it is] easy to see how he would have merged into the community, settled down and had kids."

The uncle has since died, but his story raises hope about others who have disappeared off the horizon.

Read more |  ABC News, 13.12.11

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