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)
A 15-year-old boy spent two days atop a capsized small boat in Alaska’s super cold Bering Sea. Now, he’s a viral headline after holding on until a fishing vessel rescued him this week, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The teen’s brother and a cousin died sometime after the small boat flipped, according to the rescuers. The group left St. Lawrence Island on Friday and planned to return early Sunday, the Coast Guard said. St. Lawrence Island is a remote Alaskan island that’s closer to Russia than it is to the United States.Officials found the brother and cousin’s bodies after hoisting the teen to safety near St. Lawrence Island.
Coast Guard planes and helicopters began searching for the missing skiff (small boat) on Monday (Sept. 7) morning after family members reported the relatives missing the night before. Authorities did not release the names of the three people involved, including the survivor. The Coast Guard said one of its air crews spotted the boy Monday morning and deployed a raft and supplies before contacting The Northwest Explorer.
The captain of the fishing boat, The Northwest Explorer, said the boy had clung to the small boat for close to three days. “That’s one tough kid,” Adam White told KTUU-TV in Anchorage.
Meanwhile, video of the rescue shows the boy in a bright yellow jacket kneeling atop the overturned skiff. The boat’s crew tosses the boy a line, tugging the skiff closer until they can pull him into a rescue basket.
The boy was experiencing symptoms of hypothermia when he got onto the boat, the Coast Guard said. In response, the fishing boat crew warmed him with blankets and hot packs, its captain said.
“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.”
Associated Press contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
