Navy Lifts Plane From Ocean Floor, Then They Look Inside

The Pilot’s Story

The pilot gestured toward a weathered map pinned to the wall of the central hut. “We were stranded, but we refused to give up,” he began, his voice steady. He recounted how the survivors pooled their skills—some were engineers, others farmers, and a few had medical training. “It wasn’t easy. We lost people to illness and storms in those early years. But we kept building, for ourselves and for the children,” he said, his tone both somber and proud.