Video has emerged of the moment an Indonesian teenager was rescued after 49 days adrift at sea.

Fisherman Aldi Novel Adilang, 18, was picked up on 31 August by the MV Arpeggio in waters off Guam - some 1,200 miles from his original location.

The teenager was working on a "rompong", a floating wooden fish trap, when strong winds on 14 July broke the rope anchoring the platform, sending him drifting out to sea.

Mr Adilang said he ran out of food and generator fuel within a week and survived on raw tuna.

Image: Aldi Novel Adilang, 18, on board the boat that rescued him

He drank rainwater and then when it stopped raining he squeezed seawater from his shirt.


He also read the Bible and sang spiritual songs to keep his spirits up during his time adrift.

He said his solar-powered radio allowed him to provide information to passing ships, but 10 had sailed past before the Panama-registered MV Arpeggio stopped to help.

The vessel contacted the Indonesian mission in Japan when it docked in Tokuyama and officials from the Osaka consulate collected the teen on 6 September.

Image: Aldi Novel Adilang's vessel is seen from the boat that rescued him

Back at his family home in Manado after being handed over to Japanese authorities earlier this month, Mr Adilang told the Guardian he wasn't stressed to begin with, and was certain rescue boats would be sent out for him.

"It was after more than a week that I started to get very scared," he said.

"There were times when I crying and thinking about killing myself. When I was crying the only consolation I had was reading the Bible," he told the paper.

Image: Mr Adilang, 18, was rescued after spending 49 days adrift at sea

He read large chunks of the Bible and Matthew chapter 6 verse 9, the opening of the Lord's prayer, particularly stuck in his mind.

Fishermen like Mr Adilang would often spend months at a time out at sea, 75 miles from the Indonesian shore, catching fish by lighting lamps strung top of their craft to lure them into the traps below.