15-year-old spent the night praying on a capsized boat after losing his family — one thought about his late brother helped him hold on until rescue
When a family outing on the water turns into a fight for survival, there is little a person can do except hold on and hope help comes. A 15-year-old boy, Derek Parker Aghnaanga, found himself alone on an overturned fishing boat after a trip near Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island ended in tragedy, as reported by Alaska News Source on September 10, 2026. According to BBC News, the teenager had survived for days in the frigid waters, but the details he shared after the ordeal revealed just how much he had endured. For him, his survival is a prayer answered that was possible because of his late brother.
After the skiff flipped, the teenager managed to climb onto its overturned hull with his older brother and cousin. His brother was pulled under the boat, while his cousin later slipped into the water, leaving the 15-year-old alone through the night. The teen spent hours kneeling on the boat in the middle of the waves. According to a press release, the Coast Guard eventually spotted the boy sitting on the overturned skiff and called the nearby fishing vessel Northwest Explorer to help bring him in. Throughout the ordeal, Aghnaanga kept praying and thinking about his brother underneath. It helped him hold on with everything he had, and that courage was commended by Adam White, the captain of the Northwest Explorer. “It’s unbelievable. It’s remarkable," he said.
The teen was showing signs of hypothermia after spending days exposed to the cold water. According to NBC News, the 18-foot fishing boat had been overdue after leaving Savoonga on Friday, September 4, 2026. The family later said a fishing line became tangled in the motor, and worsening weather eventually caused the boat to flip. The U.S. Coast Guard later recovered the bodies of the cousin and the older brother and transported them along with the survivor. Darren Toolie-Noongwook, another brother, noted, "Parker was alone on the top of the boat but felt safe knowing that his older brother was “watching over him."
A GoFundMe has been set up to support the family. Being stranded leaves a person frozen and frightened. It takes a lot of courage to act and to hope, and the young boy managed to do that for days. In another similar story, a family of six was in a life-threatening situation after their boat capsized near Santa Cruz. The entire family, including young children, was struggling in the water. Mustering courage, one kid yelled out for help, and it made all the difference. A former surfing champion happened to be around and quickly called for help. Together with rescuers, he managed to save each person in time. He even commended the youngster, saying, "Unbelievable, these small children made it out of this boat wreck."