The Coast Guard in American Samoa is praising the efforts of a commercial fishing vessel in rescuing three fishermen who had been adrift for more than a day.
After a distress signal was picked up a Polynesian Airlines plane detoured from its flight path to try to locate the fishing boat.
It was spotted southwest of Pago Pago harbour and the longliner Tracey-C went out to collect the alia, even though it was not ready to head out to sea.
The Coast Guard said the Tracey-C had volutnarily used up a lot of time and fuel in the rescue in order to help fellow fishermen in distress.
