15-Year-Old Alaska Teen Found Alive After Days on Overturned Skiff as Brother and Cousin Die
A 15-year-old Alaska boy survived for days on the hull of an overturned fishing skiff in the freezing Bering Sea. He had no food or water. His older brother and cousin did not survive.
Derek Parker Aghnaanga was rescued Monday morning after a U.S. Coast Guard aircrew spotted him about four miles east of St. Lawrence Island. The crew of a fishing vessel then pulled him from the overturned 18-foot skiff.
The rescue happened near the western edge of Alaska, close to Russian waters. The water was reported to be about 50 degrees. Parker had spent the ordeal kneeling on the hull as waves struck the boat and praying through the night.
Parker and his family are from Savoonga, a Siberian Yupik village of roughly 800 people on the north coast of St. Lawrence Island. He left the village with his older brother, Sidney Kulowiyi, and their cousin, Barton Rookok, to fish for halibut. They departed Friday, September 4, and were expected to return around 3 a.m. Sunday.
They never came back. Family members said a fishing line became tangled in the motor. The weather then worsened, and the skiff flipped. Kulowiyi, 35, was reportedly caught in the line and pulled under the boat. He drowned.
Parker and Rookok, 34, managed to climb onto the overturned hull. The two men stayed together through the first night. According to the family, Rookok later panicked, entered the water, and disappeared. Parker was left alone on the skiff.
Parker’s mother, Vina Kulowiyi, said her son “was never afraid the whole time” and “lived on prayer with no food and water.” A relative, Darren Toolie-Noongwook, said the teenager spent the night kneeling while the waves hit the hull.
Toolie-Noongwook described the teenager’s faith as central to his survival: “In middle of the night, waves hitting him, he was kneeling and praying,” Toolie-Noongwook said. “That’s all he was doing was praying. He believed that he was gonna make it. That’s how he got through it. I don’t know if news anchors can say that, but that’s how it happened. I don’t want that to be left out. That he was praying and believing that he was gonna make it. He’s 15. He’s our baby brother. He’s just a baby. But he had faith. That’s how he made it through.”
The family also provided a timeline of the disaster. Toolie-Noongwook said the boat flipped at about 8:03 p.m. on Friday, when his older brother drowned. Parker and the cousin initially reached the top of the overturned boat together, but the cousin later went into the water.
A social media video about the rescue showed the dangerous conditions surrounding the overturned boat and Parker’s discovery in the frigid water.
ALERT: 15-year-old boy stranded on an overturned boat with his older brother and cousin, who were found deceased underneath the boat, found after nearly 5 days.
Adam White, the captain of the Northwest Explorer, spotted the boy in the frigid water, about 50°, who had overturned… pic.twitter.com/vCGQXmszk8
— E X X ➠A L E R T S (@ExxAlerts) September 10, 2026
After being brought ashore, Parker was reported to be recovering at home. His survival came after days alone on the skiff, exposed to cold water, waves, and the elements. The rescue ended a search that began after the three fishermen failed to return to Savoonga.