Dispatches

Five Rescued in Kiribati After Months Adrift; Four Still Missing

Authorities say five people, including two children, were rescued in Kiribati after three months drifting at sea, according to ABC News, while CBS News reports four people remain missing.

The Continental Gazette standing plate
From the pages of The Continental Gazette.

According to ABC News, authorities say five people, including two children, have been rescued in the South Pacific island nation of Kiribati after three months drifting at sea in a 20-foot skiff. The ABC News summary does not describe how the rescue was carried out.

CBS News reported that five people were rescued in the South Pacific after months at sea, with four still missing. Its summary adds that the U.S. Coast Guard in Guam confirmed that the skiff, with nine people aboard, "had been reported missing in July."

The two accounts agree on the number rescued, five, and both describe a long period at sea. They differ on timing. ABC News puts the drift at three months, while the CBS News summary gives only the July date on which the skiff was reported missing and does not state how long it was adrift before the rescue.

CBS News's headline reports that four people remain missing. Taken together, the five rescued and four missing match the nine people aboard the skiff that CBS News's summary describes. Neither summary explains how the number of missing people was determined.

ABC News reports that two of the five rescued are children. Neither ABC News nor CBS News gives the names, ages, or condition of those rescued in the summaries reviewed for this report, and neither describes the search that preceded the rescue.

Neither ABC News nor CBS News gives a date for the rescue in the summaries reviewed for this report.

Sources: ABC News: Authorities say 5 people rescued in Kiribati after 3 months drifting at sea; CBS News: 5 people rescued in South Pacific after months at sea, 4 still missing.

The Continental Gazette • Printed for the Publick

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