American Teenage girl and seven others missing at sea for five days are found shipwrecked on island near Honduras

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A New Orleans teenager who went missing during a boat trip in Honduras, has been found safe and well on an island.

Amber Burkett was found shipwrecked on the island of Santa Elena near Roatan along with another American, a Canadian and five Hondurans who had all been on the boat.

The group, who have been missing since Saturday, were rescued after waving frantically to catch the attention of a pilot as he flew over the island.

Saved: Amber Burkett, 16, has been rescued after being shipwrecked off Honduras for five days

Shipwrecked: Amber Burkett and Tasha Brown have been stranded on an island off Roatan since Saturday

'It was a boat wreck. They were stranded on an island,' Amber's mother, Jackie Capehart said. 'They were signaling for help, so they were able to move.'

Natalie Zmurchyk, whose 20-year-old daughter Tasha Brown was with the missing group, added that the group of youngsters, aged between 16 and 28, had run out of water hours before being saved. 

'I have just got off the phone with Tasha, they are all good,' Ms Zmurchyk said on Facebook. 'She is not too dehydrated, she has been in worse shape.'

Ms Brown, a media from Grand Forks in British Columbia, had been in Honduras for a working holiday, according to CBC News.

Ms Capehart, who spoke to Amber after she arrived at a hospital, said her daughter was able to walk and had managed to avoid sun burn.

Safe: Tasha Brown, a 20-year-old Canadian on a working holiday to Honduras, has been rescued

Rescue: Alexandra Bodden, 16, and Gary Zelaya, 22, have been found after being stranded on a boat trip

Back home: Annie Miralda, 28, has been rescued from the island where the group was stranded

'You don't know what I've been through in the past four days,' Amber told her mother in a tearful phone call after her rescue.

Amber and Ms Brown were rescued along with an 18-year-old American called Leon Martin Coello Buckley, and five Hondurans after they got lost in the Caribbean sea.

The group had left the island of Utila for a day trip in a 28ft boat at about 3pm on Saturday. When they failed to reach their destination or return, the alarm was raised.

The families of the missing people had started to fear for the worst after a joint rescue between Honduras and the U.S Coast Guard failed to immediately find them.

Louisiana senator Dave Vitter, who pushed for the U.S. Coast Guard to get involved with the rescue of Amber, said: 'I'm so very relieved to announce that Amber has been safely rescued. As a father of teenagers, I am relieved for the Burkett family that this nightmare has ended.'

CASTAWAYS

Eight people were on the 28ft boat when it went missing on Saturday, June 29. They include:
Americans
Amber Burkett, 16
Leon Buckley, 18
Canadian
Tasha Brown, 20
Hondurans
Luis Gustavo Paz, 23
Gary Zelaya, 22
Annie Miralda, 28
Alexandra Bodden, 16
Adán Centeno, 19

After a search that covered 4,502 square miles, and reached as far as the coast of Mexico, the shipwrecked youngsters were found 65 miles from where they set off.

'The survivors' original plans were to travel from Roatan to Utila, a trip of approximately 18 miles,' Michael Mullen, Seventh Coast Guard District command duty officer, said.

Ms Capehart, who plans to travel  to Honduras to be reunited with her daughter, said the U.S. Coast Guard was airlifting the group to a hospital in Roatan.

Amber's uncle, who she had been staying with as the 16-year-old got over the death of her baby, was waiting at the hospital for her to arrive, according to The Times-Picayune.

'With all that going on in her life, I figured I'd give her a vacation,' Ms Capehart said, adding that she never imagined her daughter would then end up shipwrecked.

She told WDSU News earlier in the week that it was hard having to wait at home in New Orleans to hear if her daughter was alive or dead.

Lost at sea: Two Americans, a Canadian and five Hondurans were found off Roatan, about 65 miles from where they set out on Saturday

It was reported that the group had chartered the boat from Utila without permission, on Saturday.

The were finally spotted by the U.S. Coast Guard plane as they waved to attract attention.

'The eight young boaters were safely rescued today due to the vigilant search efforts by the Coast Guard and our partner agencies assisting in the search. Ultimately these efforts saved the lives of these eight boaters,' Rear Admiral Jake Korn, commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District, said.

A Navy aircrew helped with the rescue efforts, which involved US Coast Guard C-130 and helicopter crews joining forces with the Honduras Navy.