An Indonesian teenager who spent 49 days at sea after his fishing raft lost its moorings told CBN recently that his Bible helped him survive the terrifying ordeal.

Nineteen-year-old Aldi Adilang worked on a fishing raft called a rompong. According to the Jakarta Post, a rompong supports a small hut and floats on buoys. It’s anchored to the seabed by ropes. On July 14, a hard wind broke the ropes anchoring his rompong and he drifted out to sea.

After the ropes broke, Adilang only had enough food, gas for cooking, clean water and fuel for a generator to last a few days. He caught fish and cooked them by burning wood from the raft. He drank sea water that he filtered through his clothes.

‘What if No One Sees Me?’

He didn’t worry at first because the thought another boat would rescue him. But after a few days he got fearful. He thought “what if no one sees me?” 

“At night, I got very scared because many sharks were circling my raft,” explained Adilang. “I was afraid I [would] not see my parents again, my family and friends. I even thought of jumping into the sea and just commit[ing] suicide.”

“I thought ‘I will never meet my parents again,’ so I just prayed every day,” he said.

But the Bible he had onboard comforted him. “I had my Bible with me. I become strong again when I read the Bible. I prayed and sang worship songs. When I do this, all my fears are gone. God spoke to me. He said, ‘Be patient. I will come and help you.'”

His parents and village neighbors also prayed for Adilang. His family never gave up hope that he’d be found. 

‘God is So Great’

Ten ships had passed by and no one answered his distress call. Finally, on day 49, a Panamanian tanker, Arpeggio, responded to him. “They did not understand when I said ‘help’ in our language. I remembered what my friend taught me. Use the English word Help!” The crew threw a rope to Adilang. The captain of Arpeggio contacted Guam’s coast guard, who told the captain to continue on to Japan. 

The ship docked in Japan on September 6, but, for health reasons, authorities quarantined Adilang for a day. Two days later, he flew to Jakarta. He is now in good health and back with his family. Adilang doesn’t want to work on a rompong anymore.

Throughout the ordeal, Adilang knew God was with him. “God is so great. I believe God took care of me every day. He never leaves us, even in dangerous situations.”