‘HELP’ sign on beach points rescuers to men stuck nine days on remote Pacific atoll

By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press

The U.S. Coast Guard says three men stranded on an uninhabited Pacific atoll survived for over a week before being rescued. The fishermen got in trouble after their boat hit a coral reef and took on water. They spelled out “HELP” with palm fronds on a beach, enabling Coast Guard and Navy aviators to pinpoint them on the remote island 1,800 miles east of the Philippines. The planes dropped rescue kits and a radio the men used to report they were thirsty but all right. A Coast Guard ship reunited them with their families Tuesday, nine days after they set out from home.