19-year-old Indonesian boy miraculously survived after 49 days drifting at sea without food and water – according to his confession, he passed through this ordeal, strengthening his spirit by Bible reading and prayer.
Aldi novel ‘ Adilang (Aldi Novel Adilang) was carried out in the Pacific ocean on a rickety raft, when I was working on a floating fishing trap (the so-called “rampage”) about 80 miles off the coast of Indonesia. Adilang at the time three years had worked as shift workers of the fishing farm – his duty was to service the night lamp installed on wooden raft fishing trap to attract schools of fish.
In mid-July was a disaster. Came a violent storm, broke a fishing trap from the moorings, together with all equipment and raft and carried into the raging ocean. 49 days trapped with a man on a raft drifted thousands of miles in the direction of the island of GUAM, and Adelange was not oars, sails, motor, to try to change the course of the raft and escape. After a few days drifting in the ocean the young man ran out of food and water, and he had to eat fish, lightly fried its chips, and drink sea water, which he tried to desalinate using a primitive filter through their own folded clothes.
“Aldi, he said, was very scared and depressed and cried often in the first days of the drift, – said the Indonesian diplomatic staff of consular services in Osaka (Japan). Sometimes he saw a large court, and each time he felt hope for salvation. For all the drift he saw 10 ships, but they are passed – either not noticing his distress, or not wishing to spend the precious time and fuel for his salvation.”
The young man in the end have reached such a stage of exhaustion and despair I was going to throw himself into the ocean to commit suicide, but he remembered parental guidance. His parents taught him to pray to the Lord in the hours of difficulties and trials, and he decided to follow their advice.
Fortunately, his modest belongings they found a Bible given to him by his parents. He later admitted that Bible reading and constant prayer for the help of the Lord helped him to overcome despair and thoughts of suicide, breathing hope into the heart and strengthened the spirit and helped to survive.
Until 31 August, the young man noticed another large ship – it was a container ship Arpeggio of Panamanian registration, and began frantically waving his shirt to attract the attention of mariners. He also turned on my radio transmitter with a long dead battery in a forlorn hope to contact the radio operator of the vessel. In the end, on Board noticed the distressed fisherman, and the captain gave the order to turn. Maneuvers of a huge vessel when approaching a trap was complicated by the large waves and wind, and therefore had to make four attempts visits to the target with subsequent multikilometer turns of the vessel. Only on the fourth attempt, the sailors managed to get close to the raft and throw the young man rescue the end.
“Aldi jumped into the sea, barely caught the end in the waves and clung to him from last forces, – has told Fajar. In the end, the crew managed to pull and drag on Board.”
The crew gave Adelange consular service of Indonesia in the Japanese city of Osaka, a week after the rescue, September 6. Two days later he was sent by a regular flight home, in his hometown of Manado, the capital of the Indonesian fishing in the province of North Sulawesi.