Overview:
After 13 days adrift at sea, an Indonesian fisherman reached Peleliu on Aug. 20, pulling his boat onto the beach and following a light to a nearby home to seek help. His ordeal ended with hospitalization in Koror, but an unpaid medical bill is now keeping him in Palau.
By: L.N. Reklai
PELELIU, Palau (Aug. 27, 2026) — After what he told an Indonesian translator was 13 days adrift at sea, an Indonesian fisherman reached Palau’s Peleliu island on Aug. 20, where he sought help and was later hospitalized.
According to Palau authorities, the fisherman’s boat drifted ashore on Peleliu on Aug. 20. After reaching land, he managed to pull his boat onto the beach and followed a light to a nearby house, where he asked for help.
The language barrier made communication difficult, so a local resident used a phone translator to communicate with him.
The fisherman was taken to the Peleliu medical dispensary, where he spent the night. The following day, national police picked him up and transported him to Belau National Hospital in Koror.
He was discharged from the hospital on Aug. 27 after a seven-day stay.
An Indonesian translator in Palau said he contacted the fisherman’s wife and family in Indonesia to let them know he had been found.
The family was relieved and happy to hear he was alive, particularly his wife, who is three months pregnant, the translator said.
The fisherman is now staying with another Indonesian worker employed by Surangel & Sons. The translator said the two men know each other and come from the same area in Indonesia.
Although the fisherman is reportedly in good condition, his ordeal is not quite over. He remains in Palau because he has an outstanding hospital bill of more than $1,000 from his seven-day stay.
It remains unclear where his journey began or how he came to be adrift. Authorities have not determined whether he drifted from Indonesia or whether he had been aboard or associated with a larger fishing vessel.
According to the Indonesian translator, however, the fisherman said he had spent 13 days at sea before reaching Peleliu.
His arrival on the island brought an end to a dangerous ordeal at sea, but his return home remains uncertain as arrangements for his outstanding medical bill and travel are addressed.