15-year-old rescued after clinging to capsized boat for days in Alaska's
Bering Sea
[September 12, 2026]
By JOHN SEEWER
A 15-year-old boy survived on top of an overturned skiff in Alaska’s
frigid Bering Sea for roughly two days, losing his older brother and
then his cousin to the ocean after the boat capsized while they were out
fishing.
The teen, identified by a relative as Derek Parker Aghnaanga, was
finally hoisted to safety Monday by a fishing boat near St. Lawrence
Island — a remote Alaskan island closer to Russia than it is to the
United States. The bodies of his cousin and brother were also recovered.
The cousin had held onto the overturned boat for a while too, but did
not survive until the rescue, the teen told one of the rescuers.
The captain of the fishing boat that came to his aid said Aghnaanga
clung to the skiff through darkness and water temperatures around 50
degrees (10 degrees Celsius).
“That’s one tough kid,” Adam White, captain of The Northwest Explorer,
told KTUU-TV in Anchorage.
“Through the teeth chattering, he had mentioned that his brother was
still under the skiff,” White said. “And then he said that, in the
previous night, before our rescue, that his cousin had slipped away.”
U.S. Coast Guard planes and helicopters began searching for the skiff
Monday morning after family members reported the three missing the night
before.
The group left the village of Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island on Friday
and planned to return early Sunday, the Coast Guard said.
Halibut fishing is a part of the culture and important to survival in
the village where there are about 800 residents and jobs are hard to
come by, said Collen Walker, an aunt of the two brothers. Residents
often share their catch with family and neighbors, she said.
“That's how we do it in our community. We take care of one another,” she
said Friday. “We still live a traditional way of life even if the world
is changing.”
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This image taken from video provided by Carlos Alexis Escartin shows
a teenager being rescued by a fishing vessel Monday, Sept. 7, 2026,
in the Bering Sea near St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. (Carlos Alexis
Escartin via AP)
Aghnaanga, the teen rescued, often went fishing with his 35-year-old
brother, Sidney Kulowiyi, and looked to him as a father figure ever
since their own father died when they were younger, Walker said.
She described Kulowiyi, a commercial fishing captain, as a humble
and loving “provider for people in the village.” She didn't want to
release the name of their cousin who died, saying he also came from
Savoonga.
Their skiff capsized Saturday night far out in the ocean, she was
told.
The Coast Guard said one of its aircrews spotted the boy Monday
morning and deployed a raft and supplies before contacting The
Northwest Explorer.
Aghnaanga's mother was listening to a radio transmission of the
rescue Monday while other family members huddled around a
speakerphone, Walker said.
“We all cried and jumped for joy when the captain announced on the
radio, ‘We found a kid, he’s alive, he’s alive,’” she said. “Then we
asked, 'Where’s the rest of them?'”
Video of the rescue shows Aghnaanga in a bright yellow jacket
kneeling atop the overturned skiff. The boat's crew tosses him a
line, tugging the skiff closer until they can pull him into a rescue
basket.
He was experiencing symptoms of hypothermia when he got onto the
boat, the Coast Guard said.
The fishing boat crew warmed him with blankets and hot packs, its
captain said.
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Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.
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