Teen rescued after drifting 1,900km at sea over 49 days on floating kelong

Jakarta: Aldi Novel Adilang, 19, had one of the loneliest jobs in the world: He was a lamp keeper for a floating fish trap, 125km out at sea, with weekly brief human contact and a walkie-talkie.

On July 14, the fish trap – called a rompong – slipped its moorings and strong wings blew him thousands of kilometres away from North Sulawesi to Guam waters. He now had to cope not only with loneliness, but also hunger, thirst and fear.