Castaway! Stranded mariners spell out 'HELP', rescuer relative saves them in crazy reunion

In an incident that looks like a scene from some 1970s Bollywood flick, a rescuer on a tiny Pacific island rescued his lost relatives — his second and third cousins — more than a week after the three stranded mariners spelt out "HELP" using palm fronds laid on a white-sand beach.

According to a report in CNN, the three men were planning to fish around the waters at Pikelot Atoll, an island of Micronesia last month on Easter Sunday. But on March 31, their 20-foot open skiff's outboard motor was damaged, according to US Coast Guard officials.

They scrambled ashore on uninhabited Pikelot. However, their radio ran out of battery power before they could call for help.

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The three then gathered palm fronds to spell out 'HELP' on the beach and waited for real help to arrive.

The men lived off coconut for a week and sourced water from a small well on the island sometimes visited by fishers in the region.

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The US officials started searching for the men on April 6 when one of their relatives called rescue officials in US Pacific territory of Guam.

The Piklelot island is part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a Pacific nation between the Philippines and Hawaii that is made up of more than 600 islands scattered across about 2.5 million square kilometres of ocean.

A US Navy P-8A reconnaissance jet spotted the palm-frond "HELP" sign on the beach on April 7.

"This act of ingenuity was pivotal in guiding rescue efforts directly to their location," Lt. Chelsea Garcia, the search-and-rescue mission coordinator, said in a statement.

But finally on April 9, when Petty Officer 2nd Class Eugene Halishlius reached the island, the story had another twist. The stranded men spoke Micronesian, the same language as Halishlius.

"I could see on their faces, 'Whoa! Who's this guy pulling up that can speak our language?'" Halishlius told CNN in an interview.

They found out they were related.

"It's a crazy world, I actually found out I'm related to them!" Halishlius said.

"He couldn't believe I'm with the Coast Guard trying to rescue them."

The man was a third cousin, the others fourth cousins, he said.

(With inputs from agencies)