Image caption A photo taken from a nearby vessel shows the Coast Guard helicopter as it rescued Harris

A teenage Alaska fisherman cast adrift when a wave sank his boat floated for 26 hours in a plastic fish bin before his rescue by the US Coast Guard.

Ryan Harris, 19, spent Friday night in a 4ft (1.2m) by 4ft container before he was spotted.

His shipmate was able to don a survival suit after their 28-ft boat overturned off the coast of Sitka, Alaska, and drifted safely to shore.

Mr Harris told news media he sang songs to keep his spirits up.

The Kaitlin Rai overturned on Friday afternoon, tossing Mr Harris and crew mate Stonie "Mac" Huffman into the water.

Mr Harris took refuge in a bin used to store fish, and the two men were soon separated by the waves.

Mr Harris said he repeated to himself for hours the mantra, "I'm Ryan Hunter Harris and I'm not going to die here", and sang Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Row, Row, Row Your Boat, he told the Daily Sitka Sentinel.

"I never thought I was going to die, but I was worried about Mac," Mr Harris told the newspaper.