A 15-year-old boy named Derek Parker Aghnaanga was rescued from the frigid Bering Sea after clinging to the hull of a capsized 18-foot skiff for roughly two days without food or water. Aghnaanga had set out from the remote Alaska Native village of Savoonga on Friday with his 35-year-old brother, Sidney Kulowiyi, and their cousin for a halibut fishing trip, expecting to return by early Sunday. Rough weather and a tangled fishing line caused the boat to flip Saturday night, throwing all three into the water; family members reported them missing when they failed to return, triggering a search involving the Coast Guard and Alaska State Troopers. A Coast Guard aircraft finally spotted the teen Monday morning kneeling on the overturned hull about four miles east of St. Lawrence Island, and the crew of the fishing vessel Northwest Explorer moved in to pull him to safety on video.

The rescue came too late for Aghnaanga's brother and cousin. Kulowiyi became tangled in fishing lines and was pulled under the vessel as it capsized, while their cousin slipped away from the hull and died of exposure during the night before help arrived. Aghnaanga was showing symptoms of hypothermia when rescuers wrapped him in blankets and used hot packs to warm him before transporting him to medical care in Nome. Family and community members in Savoonga, a village of roughly 800 residents where halibut fishing is a way of life, have described the outcome as nothing short of miraculous even as they grieve the loss of Kulowiyi, remembered as a dedicated commercial fishing captain and provider for the community.