A 15-year-old boy has been rescued after surviving nearly three days adrift in the frigid Bering Sea off Alaska, clinging to the hull of a capsized boat in one of the world's most punishing maritime environments. His brother and cousin, who were with him when the small vessel overturned, did not survive.

The group had been out fishing — an activity central to the subsistence lifestyle of many communities in the region — when their boat capsized. The teenager was found near St. Lawrence Island, a remote Alaskan island in the Bering Sea lying roughly 200 kilometres off Alaska's western coast and close to the Russian maritime boundary. The US Coast Guard launched a search after the three were reported missing, eventually locating the boy still holding on to the overturned vessel.

Footage of the rescue shows the teenager wearing a bright yellow jacket as the crew of a fishing boat pulled him from the water. He was suffering from symptoms of hypothermia — a dangerous drop in core body temperature caused by prolonged exposure to cold — and was treated on board with blankets and hot packs.

The Bering Sea is notorious for its extreme and rapidly changing weather conditions, with water temperatures that can prove fatal within hours for those exposed to them. That the boy survived for close to three days represents a remarkable feat of endurance. The deaths of his brother and cousin are a reminder of the dangerous conditions routinely faced by fishing communities in Alaska's remote western reaches, where subsistence fishing is not only a cultural tradition but a critical source of food.

The rescue highlights the vital role played by the Coast Guard and civilian fishing vessels in monitoring one of the most isolated stretches of ocean in North America, where distances and harsh conditions make emergency response extraordinarily challenging.