Residents of Kanton Island said they were malnourished and starving because a government supply ship hadn't been able to get there.
A British sailor delivering a yacht from Hawaii to Australia may have been a life-saver for 24 inhabitants of a remote Pacific island.
Yachtsman Alex Bond decided to make a stop Sunday at Kanton Island, part of the Phoenix Islands in the nation of Kiribati, during his trans-Pacific delivery voyage, according to a release from the British coastguard.
Greeting him on the island were 24 malnourished residents, including 10 children. They had been living on only fish and coconuts for two months because a Kiribati government supply ship that normally brings their food had not been able to get to the island, CNN affiliate ABC News in Australia reported.
The island, which is surrounded by several uninhabited islands, is about 2000 miles from and midway between Hawaii and Fiji in the Pacific.
“We had no idea of the trouble they were in when we arrived. The adults were in a poor state and the children were suffering serious malnutrition,” Bond told The Falmouth Packet by phone.
Bond gave the islanders the few supplies he could spare from the yacht and used a satellite phone to contact the British coastguard station in Falmouth, England, near his home in Penryn, British authorities said.
“So far, we have been given a shopping list of provisions such as cooking fat, rice, sugar and flour,” the British coastguard said.
British authorities contacted U.S. Coast Guard authorities in Honolulu, who notified the Kiribati consulate on the Big Island, Lt. Gene Maestas of the 14th Coast Guard District told CNN.
"That's the extent of our involvement thus far. A relief ship is supposed to be bringing supplies to them but we have not been asked for help," he said.
“It is a beautiful island in the middle of nowhere, but their regular delivery of food had failed to show up and was at least five weeks away,” Bond said in the Packet report.
“We’re not leaving until I know they are okay. They are wonderful people,” he told the Packet.
Kanton, the only island in the Phoenix group with a permanent population, served as an air base for U.S. forces during World War II and later as a missile tracking station.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
I am reading again the desire for the back pocket to be filled rather than a handful of humanity. When will ever begin to be a society that is humanitarian rather than one of people who only want there back pockets filled. Shame on all of you who would rather see this story as a free handout rather than one of humanity. My heart goes out to the children and the people Well done Mr Bond You give me, my children and my grandchildren a chance for hope that society will beign to realize we must turn about. There are no green bucks when society goes to the wasteland,
This island's population has been dropping fast, from 61 in 2000 to 24 now. People are leaving, and will almost certainly continue. It is a coral atoll, which is a thin ring of above-sea-level coral sand and very few plants, surrounding more seawater. There is no fresh water but what is caught in rain barrels or cisterns. Most foods will not grow in this land. It used to be several things that kept activity coming and going from the island, but not any more. See the wiki article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanton_Island to understand it.
There are those in this world who are not concerned with how much comes out of their pockets – they will simply help others when they encounter the need, if it is possible. I thank them.
How quickly the ignorant are to judge. This little strip of land was an important Port for our solders during WW2. That this island has also been the source of several years of legal battling between the US and British. There are still two active radio towers on the island.
The island is typically self sustaining but also needs to trade – the recent series of harsh weather etc has left the small island in peril. This is also a cultural preservation effort for an indigenous people which we almost decimated.
Ironically, the one place on Earth a McDonalds or 7-11 might have actually been a very good thing! Perhaps they should live somewhere that has the necessary staples to sustain life.
Its a CULT! Send them Koolaide
steven STEVENS....obviously, most of the folke who are responding negatively to the story have never traveled very far from thier homess....i have sailed thoughout the so pacific..there are many islands that are populated and requiire their supplies be transoprted to there island...not too much different than those folks who llike going to the grodcery and buying foods shipped from foriegn port s...plus i doubt that these same folks would want to be uuprooted from their homes homes that they have occupied for many generations...this another example of follks who feel that all should look like them and act like them...and live lioke them...
Why don't they go live somewhere else if they need to have food shipped in?
some bozos here think that any land can be farmed or used for animals such as cows and chickens, etc. It takes a certain type of soil to grow food. and grazing animals will wipe out the plants pretty quick. Its not as easy as its summer 365 days a year. Idiots.
How did people live on those islands before? why dont they raise animals and grow other crops? they are in the tropics for darn sake, I would never rely on a supply ship if i were in that situation. Buy some seeds, get some chickens, and pigs, or maybe the island is just uninhabitable.
Like a comedian said during the drought and food scacity in Africa.....why send them food SEND THEM TRUCKS AND GET THEM THE HELL OUT OF THERE.
Same here, send them boats or cruise tickets and get them out of there
John R has it right.
Its amazing how Americans assume everyone in the world is getting a "free ride" off America. Perhaps they believe Kiribati to be another state of the union and a missile tracking station is a completely useless waste of the taxpayers money!
Good point Ed – Starvation and malnutrition is preferable to corporate America. Your perspective on the world is warped by the cushy life style made possible by the same economic system you despise.
The population of Kanton Island is there at the request of the nation of Kiribati so as to maintain a sovereign presence in the Phoenix Islands chain. The rest of the islands are not inhabited. These islands lack significant freshwater availability which makes agriculture difficult. It is not intended to be a completely self-sustaining community.
The United States occupied Kanton during World War II and through the 1950's maintining a mid-Pacific airstrip there. It is extremely remote and difficult to supply.
The nation of Kiribati is made up of several island chains in the mid-Pacific and does not have a developed economy.
Judgement seems to be the popular currency of ill-informed opinion. Not every news event needs to be filtered through the selfish perspective of our own political agendas. Relax. Take a breath and be grateful that one human being offered aid to others when in need of help. We all have received assistance at one time or another or are just too ignorant to realize it.
Let us talk reality, both physical and moral. If you can not feed your self, do not have children. If you live in a place where you can not feed your children, move to a place where you can feed your children. If you have to live in a place where you have to rely on a boat to bring you food, save some food for when the boat does not come. And in reality, that time will come, when the boat does not not. reality. These people live in a place where reality does not matter? Yes, but starving to death is real. Get real. Maybe Iran or China can send them some food. Pleae don't wait for the over taxed Americans, good Christians that most of us are, to keep sendiong you food. Move tMexico. they have some food there.