Sunday, March 12, 2006

Its not God's will!!!!!

I read this in the news. I can only imagine the woman's frustration. :) The man must have crazy to have made the "We got lost because its God's will" comment.

http://heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18426505%255E1702,00.html


Couple survives 35 days adrift at sea From correspondents in Majuro, Kiribati

11mar06 What was supposed to be a simple four-hour boat trip turned into a 35-day ordeal at sea for a couple from the central Pacific nation of Kiribati who drifted 1900km before being rescued.Taate Toakai and Botara Betaia then had to wait another month and a half on a remote island before getting a ride home.

Toakai and Betaia told the story of their dreadful experience yesterday before departing Majuro for home nearly two and a half months after setting out on what they thought would be a four-hour boat ride from the Kiribati capital of Tarawa to neighbouring Maiana Island.

When their engine died, they could still see land but were too far away to swim, and although they had a walkie-talkie and cellphone luck was against them.

"The cell phone wasn't charged, the batteries for the walkie-talkie were weak and before we left he (Betaia) had turned off the CB radio at the house," Toakai said.

"I really got mad at him and I told him 'This is not God's will, we're drifting because of your carelessness'."

Search planes and rescue boats failed to locate the 52-year-old couple and days of drifting turned into weeks.

"Our faith gave us life. We would pray at least 10 times a day. I kept praying for God to help us," Toakai said.

"For three days we didn't have water or food. We continued to pray, we asked for food, water and to be saved. On the fourth day it started raining. It rained for 24 hours."

The couple used a raincoat to catch rain and stored it in a bucket for drinking, and they ate raw fish Betaia caught. (well at least he's good for something!!!)

To make the situation more dire, by the end of their fourth week at sea, their 20-foot (6m) wooden boat sprang a leak and they had to bail several hours a day until they were found by a helicopter from a South Korean fishing vessel.

They were taken to Chuuk Island in Micronesia, where they waited for several weeks until Continental Airlines donated their air transportation costs back to Kiribati via Majuro.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i think its a mirac le dey arr even alive... therty five days wah now no joke thats really sumthing...

Yau said...

Wow! I crown you Archcommentator grande on account of your being the first comment on my blog!