Image Source: TRIBUNE

Four people who survived a month adrift in the Pacific were recovering in the Solomon Islands Wednesday after an ordeal that claimed the lives of eight of their companions, including a baby, reports said.

The group, from Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville province, said they survived by eating coconuts found floating in the sea and collected rainwater in a bowl during their 32 days adrift.

The Solomon Star News reported the group set off from Bougainville on December 22, intending to celebrate Christmas in the Carteret Islands, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) away.

But survivor Dominic Stally said their small boat capsized and a number of the group drowned.