Mother says Alaska teen prayed through two-day ordeal atop capsized Bering Sea skiff

Savoonga mother says sons were fishing to provide for community

Vina Kulowiyi said her 15-year-old son, identified by family members as Derek Parker Aghnaanga, was never afraid during the two-day ordeal after the family’s 18-foot fishing skiff capsized on Saturday in the Bering Sea. “He was never afraid the whole time,” Kulowiyi said, according to a BBC report citing her Facebook posts. “He sat praying the whole time.”

Aghnaanga was the lone survivor of the trip. His older brother and cousin drowned after the skiff capsized. The trio had departed from St Lawrence Island on Friday 4 September and were due back the following Sunday afternoon, the US Coast Guard said. When the vessel failed to return, the Coast Guard launched a search.

A Coast Guard aircrew located Aghnaanga sitting on top of the overturned boat on Monday morning. A nearby good Samaritan vessel pulled him to safety and also recovered the bodies of his two relatives.

“Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and communities affected by the tragic loss of these two mariners,” said Rear Adm. Bob Little, the commander of the Coast Guard’s Arctic District. The boy had signs of hypothermia when he was rescued, the USCG said.

Adam White, captain of the fishing boat that pulled Aghnaanga to safety, told the Anchorage outlet KTUU-TV that the teen had clung to the skiff through darkness and water temperatures around 50F (10C). “That’s one tough kid,” White said. “Through the teeth chattering, he had mentioned that his brother was still under the skiff. And then he said that, in the previous night, before our rescue, that his cousin had slipped away.”

The skiff capsized on Saturday, leaving Aghnaanga without food or water for two days at sea, according to his mother’s Facebook post.

Kulowiyi, the mother of Aghnaanga and his older brother, said her sons were doing what they loved: fishing to provide for members of their community who don’t always have access to meat at their local store in Savoonga. Savoonga — a village of around 800 residents on St Lawrence Island off Alaska’s coast — is primarily inhabited by Siberian Yupik peoples. English and St Lawrence Island Yupik are the island’s main languages.

“My boys were born and raised to be providers. A tradition that is passed on,” Kulowiyi wrote on Facebook. “We hunt and provide for families and share the community.”

Kulowiyi said her surviving son is recovering at home. “My survivor,” she wrote. “His story is amazing. He was never afraid the whole time.”