An Indonesian youth has survived 48 days adrift at sea in a floating fish trap, before he was rescued by a cargo vessel more than 2000 kilometres away in the waters of Guam, from where he was taken to Japan, official sources say.

Fajar Firdaus, a diplomat from the Indonesian consulate in Osaka,  confirmed to EFE that Aldi Novel Adilang, 19, was in good health and reunited with his family in his home town of Wori in North Sulawesi province.

Aldi was employed to light up a wooden floating fish trap – so as to attract the fish – about 125 kilometres from the North Sulawesi coast.

Once a week, someone would come with provisions for him and take away the collected fish.

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However, on July 14 the rope holding the structure in place broke off and strong winds pushed it towards the north.

The structure lacked an engine and went adrift, but Aldi had a solar-powered radio, through which he tried to contact at least 10 boats that passed nearby.

Finally, the vessel MV Arpeggio, bearing a Panamanian flag, caught his radio signal and rescued him on August 31 in the waters of Guam.

A rope on the teen’s vessel broke, leading to his ordeal. Photo: Twitter

The rescue was not easy owing to high waves that prevented the boat from getting close to the wooden platform, and had to be pulled up with a rope.

The captain of the vessel said that Aldi was so weak that when they found him he could not lift himself up due to exhaustion, according to the Indonesian diplomat.

The cargo ship took him to Japan, and Aldi returned to Indonesia on September 8.