A New Zealand fishing boat, sailing in an area it would not normally be, has performed a miraculous rescue of three teenagers who had been lost at sea and had started drinking seawater.

They had eaten just one seagull in 50 days adrift.

The boys had disappeared from Atafu Atoll, north of Samoa and part of the New Zealand territory of Tokelau, on October 5.

An extensive RNZAF Orion search failed to find any trace of them.

On Atafu, 500 people had already held memorial services for Samuel Perez and Filo Filo, both 15 and Edward Nasau, 14.