Lost at Sea for 5 Months, 2 Women and Their Dogs Rescued

Two women and their dogs lost at sea were rescued by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday, five months after their boat lost power in a storm.

Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiaba left Hawaii for Tahiti last spring, but lost their engine May 30 during a storm, USA Today reported. They issued distress calls daily after two months of trying to find their way without instruments, but no other ships were close enough to hear them, and they weren’t close enough to land.

The boat was finally spotted by a Taiwanese fishing vessel, which contacted the Coast Guard in Guam, USA Today reported. A Navy ship, the USS Ashland, reached the boat about an hour later.

“They saved our lives,” Appel said after being rescued, USA Today reported.

Appel said she believed they would have died within the next 24 hours because of the deteriorating condition of the boat, which was declared unseaworthy by the Navy and remains adrift, NBC News reported.

The women and dogs survived with water purifiers and a year’s worth of food including pasta, rice, and oatmeal that they had brought on board before leaving Hawaii, NBC reported.

“It was very depressing and it was very hopeless, but it’s the only thing you can do, so you do what you can with what you have,” Appel said of the ordeal, NBC News reported. “You have no other choice.”

The trip from Hawaii to Tahiti typically takes about a month to complete.

Appel and Fuiaba will stay onboard the USS Ashland until its next port of call, which was not announced for security reasons.

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