Mobile phone saves Manus family adrift at sea

DAYS after mv Goodenough capsized in Milne Bay waters, a Manus family almost faced the same fate when the banana boat they travelled in ran out of fuel far out at sea last Sunday night.
The family, which consisted of Monica Sasha Maliou and about six children, her uncles and aunties, was returning to Lorengau after visiting her husband’s relatives at Baluan Island, when the skipper said the boat had run out of fuel.
Stuck in the middle of the sea with the nearest land too far to swim or paddle to, Maliou sighted  a bemobile tower on that island and was able to contact her relatives at Lorengau and Port Moresby and informed them of their plight.
Sasha’s brother, Jeffrey Maliou, who is a businessman received the call at 8pm and quickly alerted the Manus Red Cross about his family’s situation.
Jeffrey said the quick response by the Red Cross resulted in his family being rescued and safely delivered to Lorengau.
He said it was also a blessing that his family were stranded near an island that had the bemobile tower, putting them within mobile coverage range.
He said if his family had set adrift past that island, they would not be able to make contact and he would not have known about the plight.
He urged all island communities, especially dinghy operators, to ensure that when travelling around islands, they must have full fuel tanks and spare containers onboard to avoid running out of fuel on the open seas.
He also called on relevant authorities to ensure that there were telecommunications towers along islands so that people with mobile phones could call for help, to avoid what happened to the mv Goodenough and its passengers when they could not call because they were outside the coverage range in Milne Bay.