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.

The young man, however, survived for 49 days, until a Panama-flagged vessel, Arpeggio, rescued him in Guam waters.

Before that, more than 10 ships had sailed past Aldi, failing to spot him as he waved for help.

Aldi was contracted for six months to light lamps around the rompong every night to attract fish.

Every week, the owner would send someone to harvest the fish in the trap and give Aldi a week’s worth of supplies: food, gas for cooking, clean water and fuel for the generator.

The Indonesian consul general in Osaka, Mirza Nurhidayat, who oversaw the return of Aldi after his rescue, said that, since the device was not a boat, it did not have any paddle or engine.

Aldi caught fish to stave off hunger and drank sea water when his supplies ran out.

“Aldi said he had been scared and often cried while adrift,” said another diplomat of the consulate.

Mirza said he was rescued on Aug 31, by a Panamanian-flagged vessel, the Arpeggio, on its way to Japan where it docked on Sept 6.

Adli, for health reasons was quarantined aboard the vessel before disembarking ashore for his trip back to Indonesia. He arrived home to Manado in good health on Sept 9.

His father, Alfian Adilang, said the family is overjoyed at his return but angry with his employer. — The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network