The rescue operation also recovered the bodies of the teen’s two relatives.
“Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and communities affected by the tragic loss of these two mariners,” said Rear Adm. Bob Little, commander of the Coast Guard’s Arctic District.
The Coast Guard said the teenager showed signs of hypothermia when he was rescued.
The captain of the fishing boat that brought Aghnaanga to safety told a local Anchorage news outlet that the teen had clung to the skiff through the night in water temperatures of about 50 F (10 C).
“That’s one tough kid,” said the captain, Adam White, in an interview with KTUU-TV.
“Through the teeth chattering, he had mentioned that his brother was still under the skiff,” White added. “And then he said that, in the previous night, before our rescue, that his cousin had slipped away.”
Their fishing boat capsized on Saturday, leaving Aghnaanga without food or water for two days at sea, his mother wrote on Facebook.
Vina Kulowiyi, the mother of Aghnaanga and his older brother, said her sons were doing what they loved: fishing to provide for members of their community who do not always have access to meat at their local store in Savoonga.
Savoonga, a village of about 800 residents on St. Lawrence Island off Alaska’s coast, is primarily inhabited by Siberian Yupik people. English and St. Lawrence Island Yupik are the island’s main languages.
“My boys were born and raised to be providers. A tradition that is passed on,” Kulowiyi wrote on Facebook. “We hunt and provide for families and share the community.”
Kulowiyi said her surviving son is recovering at home.
“My survivor,” she wrote. “His story is amazing. He was never afraid the whole time.”
He spent the ordeal praying, she added.
