Teen survives three days atop capsized skiff in Bering Sea; two relatives lost

A 15-year-old boy was rescued from the frigid waters of Alaska's Bering Sea after spending close to three days atop an overturned skiff, the U.S. Coast Guard said. His brother and a cousin, who had been on the same small boat, did not survive.

The three had set out from St. Lawrence Island on Friday and were expected back early Sunday, according to the Coast Guard. When they failed to return, family members reported them missing on Sunday night, prompting a search that began Monday morning with Coast Guard planes and helicopters.

A Coast Guard air crew spotted the boy on Monday morning. Video of the rescue shows him in a bright yellow jacket, kneeling on the hull of the capsized skiff as the crew of a nearby fishing vessel, The Northwest Explorer, tossed him a line and pulled the boat closer before lifting him into a rescue basket.

The boy was showing signs of hypothermia when he reached the fishing boat, the Coast Guard said. The crew wrapped him in blankets and applied hot packs, according to the vessel's captain, Adam White.

White said the boy had held on to the skiff for nearly three days. "That's one tough kid," he told a local television station in Anchorage.

Through chattering teeth, the boy told his rescuers that his brother was still beneath the skiff and that his cousin had slipped away the previous night, White said. The bodies of the two were recovered after the teenager was hoisted to safety.

St. Lawrence Island is a remote Alaskan outpost that lies closer to Russia than to the U.S. mainland. Authorities have not released the names of the three individuals.