STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with a tale of human endurance. A 19-year-old was working on a boat off the coast of Indonesia. Calling it a boat gives it too much credit. It was a makeshift fishing trap, a little hut made of sticks, which broke loose from its moorings and went out to sea. For weeks, ships passed the young man without stopping until, at last, one picked him up. And he has been declared healthy enough to travel home after 49 days adrift. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.