Man Lost at Sea for 30 Days Says It Was a "Nice Break" From Pandemic

Two men spent 29 days lost at sea, only to be rescued 250 miles off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

But the pandemic-ravaged civilization they were forced to return to was a bit of a bummer, despite their near-death experience.

"I had no idea what was going on while I was out there," Livae Nanjikana, a man from the Solomon Islands who left the island on September 3 in a small motorboat, told The Guardian. "I didn’t hear about COVID or anything else."

"I look forward to going back home but I guess it was a nice break from everything," he added — a remarkable adventure that puts our current battle with the coronavirus into perspective.

Nanjikana and Junior Qoloni are both from Mono Island, a volcanic island in the western part of the Solomon Islands. They encountered strong winds and heavy rain just hours into their journey, and then their GPS died.

Fortunately, they were able to survive on oranges, coconuts from the sea, and trapped rainwater.

"We didn’t know where we were but did not expect to be in another country," Nanjikana told The Guardian. They floated 250 miles north west and were spotted by a fisher off the coast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Fortunately, Solomon Islands ministry officials based in Papua New Guinea are already working on getting the two lost men back home to Mono Island.

It's a bit of a wake up call for both. Papua New Guinea's hospitals are currently in crisis mode and going through a spike of new cases of COVID-19, the island nation's worst one yet.

READ MORE: ‘It was a nice break from everything’: two men rescued after 29 days lost at sea [The Guardian]

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