Five People Stayed Afloat Four Days Before Sea Rescue

An improbable maritime rescue is making headlines out of Indonesia. Five of the people who vanished after a passenger boat went down off South Sulawesi on Wednesday were found alive Saturday—four days after the sinking—reports the Anatolian News Agency. One of the survivors is a 7-year-old girl, per Al Jazeera. A passing fishing boat spotted the group near Matallang Island. They had managed to stay afloat by clinging to a fishing trap and to debris from their boat.

"After the ship sank, each of them saved themselves using whatever equipment or makeshift flotation they could find," says local search-and-rescue official Muhammad Arif Anwar. The boat sank after its engine failed, and approximately 20 people remain missing. Another 47 were rescued, and one person drowned.