The word “HELP” written by three castaways stranded on a small island in the Pacific Ocean for more than a week, using palm leaves on a white sand beach, became a lifesaver for them after they were rescued in a US Navy operation. Navy and Coast Guard on Tuesday.

According to CNN, the three men were planning to fish around the atoll of Pikelot, part of Micronesia, on March 31 when their open boat was struck and their outboard motor was damaged, according to US Coast Guard officials.

The men made it ashore on uninhabited Pikelot Island, but their radio ran out of battery before they could call for help.

So the castaways collected palm fronds from the 31-acre island and managed to write “HELP,” according to a statement from the Coast Guard in hopes that someone would see their message.

For a week, the men lived on coconuts but had fresh water from a small well on the island, which is sometimes visited by fishermen in the area, Coast Guard officials said.

The search for them began on April 6, when a relative called rescue officials in the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean, saying they had not returned from their trip that had started on Easter Sunday. A tracking operation was immediately launched. The Coast Guard reported that a US Navy P-8A reconnaissance jet dispatched from Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan, saw the men’s message on the beach on April 7.

“This act of ingenuity was vital in guiding rescue efforts to their location,” said Lt. Chelsea Garcia, search and rescue coordinator. Navy aircraft dropped packages of first aid supplies necessary for their survival and reported their location to the rescue center.. A day later, a Navy HC-130 flying from Air Station Barber Point in Hawaii radioed the men, and so informed the crew that they were in good condition and were looking forward to help to return to Polowat.

When a Coast Guard ship finally arrived at Pikelot on April 9, the story took another turn. One of the first rescuers on the beach was Petty Officer 2nd Class Evgenios Halislious. The stranded were surprised to see that Halislius was Micronesian and spoke the local language. He said that when he told his name to the first castaway who arrived in the lifeboat, he was stunned to find out that they were related. “He couldn’t believe I was with the Coast Guard trying to save them,” he said. After all, he was a third cousin of the first castaway and a fourth cousin of the other two, he said.

Eventually, the men were rescued and immediately given first aid.