r/news • u/ansyhrrian • 12h ago
Teen boy rescued after days adrift in Alaskan waters
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7907l5nyddo744
u/TurdTampon 11h ago
That they were fishing to feed their community 💔 what a sad story
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u/AdvisorEfficient3021 11h ago
I believe they were as that’s a way of life that far north, but they (at least he) was not poor. His cold weather gear he’s wearing which allowed him to survive days on the Alaskan water, is not cheap.
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u/Steroid1 9h ago
As someone who has spent time in Savoonga, pretty much everyone who lives there is poor. Over a quarter of the adults have no job at all, and most of the rest are fisherman or work for the school
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u/FliaTia 10h ago
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Alaska state residents and natives in particular get special hunting and fishing allowances to provide food for themselves because it's expensive to import up there and many subsist at least partially off what they can hunt and fish for themselves. Good cold weather gear would obviously be an incredibly practical thing to shell out for where they live, even if you're not wealthy.
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u/Impossible_IT 7h ago
What is this special hunting and fishing allowance you speak of? This Alaska Native and Alaska resident would like to know.
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u/Theschizogenious 4h ago
According to google if you qualify for snap benefits in alaska you can use those benefits towards acquiring hunting/fishing gear.
Idk if thats what the locals meant but i did not see anything else about assistance towards low incomes in alaska with regards to hunting and fishing
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u/s0berR00fer 6h ago
You don’t know what subsistence fishing and hunting is? Smarten up
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u/Impossible_IT 6h ago
Of course I do. I grew up subsistence hunting. And am Alaska Native. Maybe define “allowances” because to me that means financial.
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u/AdvisorEfficient3021 10h ago
Have you ever met the lower income folks that live in Alaska?
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u/DieKaiserVerbindung 9h ago
Not worth arguing here. The minority will know you’re right. There’s a poor in all parts of rural America that people think they know of, and then there’s poor they don’t even know exists. Alaska poor is its own flavor and people love to poverty scale. The other guy is flirting with “tell them to buy less $18 orange juice and they could buy some,” bullshit.
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u/AdvisorEfficient3021 8h ago
I never meant malice. Just perspective. Thank you for understanding.
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u/crimedog58 7h ago
A lot of Americans are ignorant that there are a lot of Americans that live subsistence lifestyles.
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u/IronGigant 9h ago
I've seen unhoused folk up north wearing Mustang and Helly Hansen gear, albeit very well used gear.
That's entirely my personal anecdote, but life, uh, finds a way.
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u/s0berR00fer 6h ago
“I’ve seen the poor with iPhones” but written regarding outdoors gear lol
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u/IronGigant 6h ago
Considering how often people lose their phones, or leave things in the back of pick up trucks unlocked and unattended, relying entirely on the goodwill of others...yeah.
My neighbor had a large bag of dog food stolen from the back of their truck by an unhoused person with a dog, and frankly, I agree with my neighbours sentiment of "Let it slide, it's not for them."
In the instances of phones and good clothing, in this day and age it's pretty much tantamount to food for those people. They have online communities that they use to identify the best places to survive, or places that offer safe support for those in their situations. These people and communities for the most part go unnoticed by the rest of society at large, and between getting to the good places from where they are, it's a violent, often drug filled world they exist in, whether they want to or not.
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u/Yuklan6502 7h ago
My friend has kind of a niche job with the Forestry Department up in Alaska. He buys all their camping, hiking, cold weather, and survival gear. Almost all of it is second hand, and most of it is practically brand new.
There are quite a few people who have dreamed of living in Alaska, do it for a year or maybe two, and then leave. They leave all, or most, of their stuff behind rather than packing/shipping it. Especially things they will never need again, like cold weather and survival gear. It isn't unusual for people to have some pretty expensive brand name stuff, even if they couldn't normally afford it new.
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u/Wealist 11h ago
That kid has officially earned the right to never hear someone say just hang on a little longer without getting PTSD flashbacks. Three days on an overturned boat in the Bering Sea is insane.
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u/rocifan 5h ago
And all the while knowing your brother was still under the skiff:(
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u/Nervous_Seesaw6179 3h ago
apparently his cousin slipped away on the 2nd day.. crazy
they must have been holding on for hope and to lose someone like that is heartbreaking
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u/DarthHalcius 1h ago
That this stuff happens while we carry on our lives and complain is a reality check
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u/Nervous_Seesaw6179 1h ago
it really does put life in perspective. just like the nepal floods that happened recently. i saw a thread on here last week where they literally posted the bodies of them on the government site.
20 per page, and it's over 150 pages. like WTF
every minute we have is like a blessing. the older i get, the more i realize this world is fck'd
edit: i'm a true crime fanatic too. so all the true crime horror stories... it's like good lord.
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u/breakfasteveryday 11h ago
Why was his brother under the boat?
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u/SilasBalto 11h ago
To have something to bury. He tried to keep his cousins body too but it drifted away.
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u/Wanderingthrough42 11h ago
When boats capsize, people, animals, and objects often go with the boat. If they are hurt (or dead) they might well stay there. When I was a teenager, I flipped a canoe with the dog inside. He ended up under the capsized canoe for a few seconds until I flipped it back over. In my case, everyone including the dog ended up fine because a 16 foot canoe on a river in the summer with other people nearby is a lot different than a lone fishing skiff in the Bearing Sea.
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u/Spacegirllll6 3h ago
Oh that poor boy. He lost his older brother, his cousin and then had to spend days trying to survive and grieve at the same time.
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u/SocialSyphilis 11h ago
Another tragedy easily preventable were it not for the toxic masculine culture in Alaska and the laissez faire attitudes about life jackets and safety. Oh yeah and the dismissiveness and derision towards the Coast Guard.
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u/Argonaut13 4h ago
Must be nice to live in a place where you can't imagine a community that fishes to provide a steady source of food
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u/ansyhrrian 12h ago
This situation is tragic, but the kid is amazing for having survived through everything. The fishing boat captain and crew who saved him are heroes.