HE SURVIVED 62 HOURS AT SEA — THEN TOLD RESCUERS WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS BROTHER AND COUSIN

A 15-year-old boy clung to an overturned skiff in Alaska’s freezing Bering Sea for nearly three days. When rescuers finally reached him, he revealed the heartbreaking truth about the two family members who had been with him.

For 62 hours, 15-year-old Derek Parker Aghnaanga had just one goal: stay alive.

The Alaska teenager was left clinging to the top of an overturned fishing skiff in the freezing waters of the Bering Sea after the boat capsized during a halibut fishing trip near St. Lawrence Island.

He had no food.

No water.

And no way of knowing when — or if — help would arrive.

But when rescuers finally reached him, Derek had something even more heartbreaking to tell them.

His brother was still beneath the overturned boat.

And his cousin was gone.

THE BOAT DISAPPEARED

Derek had gone fishing with his 35-year-old brother, Sidney Kulowiyi, and their 34-year-old cousin.

The group left the remote village of Savoonga on Sept. 4 and were expected to return early Sunday.

They never made it back.

After family members reported them missing, the U.S. Coast Guard launched a search.

By Monday morning, an aircraft spotted an unusual object in the water near St. Lawrence Island.

It was the overturned skiff.

And there was someone on top of it.

A person was alive.

It was Derek.

“MY BROTHER WAS STILL UNDER THE SKIFF”

Adam White, captain of the fishing vessel Northwest Explorer, was among those involved in the rescue.

As his crew approached the overturned boat, they initially couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

Then they realized there was a teenager clinging to it.

Derek was suffering from hypothermia and was shaking uncontrollably.

But he managed to tell the crew what had happened.

According to White, the teenager said his brother was still underneath the overturned skiff.

He then revealed that his cousin had managed to hold on for a time — but had slipped away during the previous night.

The teenager had watched as both family members disappeared from the boat.

He was now alone.

62 HOURS IN THE FREEZING SEA

The conditions were brutal.

The water temperature was around 50 degrees Fahrenheit — about 10 degrees Celsius.

Derek had remained on the overturned skiff through darkness and cold, holding on for hours while waiting for someone to find him.

Captain White later described the teenager as extraordinarily tough.

“Saturday, all the way to Tuesday, that kid was on top of that skiff,” White said, according to Alaska’s News Source.

The Coast Guard had deployed a raft and supplies after spotting Derek, before coordinating with the Northwest Explorer to bring him aboard.

Crew members wrapped the teenager in blankets and used hot packs to warm him while the vessel headed toward Nome.

“HE’S ALIVE!”

Back on land, Derek’s family had been listening to the rescue unfold over a radio transmission.

They had no idea whether anyone from the missing fishing party was still alive.

Then came the words they had been desperately waiting for.

The captain announced that they had found a child — and he was alive.

The family celebrated Derek’s survival while also facing the devastating reality that his brother and cousin had not survived.

The bodies of both men were later recovered.

THE ONLY SURVIVOR

Derek was ultimately the sole survivor of the fishing trip.

His brother Sidney had been the captain of the skiff and was remembered by family members as a hardworking provider in the Savoonga community.

For Derek, the rescue was both a miracle and a tragedy.

He had survived nearly three days alone on an overturned boat in one of Alaska’s coldest and most unforgiving environments.

But when help finally came, he had to tell rescuers what had happened to the two people who had been beside him.

After 62 hours at sea, Derek was finally brought to safety.

**He survived.

But he came home without his brother and cousin.**