Five men were rescued off the coast of Hawaii on Saturday, having been stranded at sea for four days in a 14ft skiff.

The men were rescued by a cargo ship after a coast guard helicopter crew spotted the vessel while searching, 184 miles east northeast of Teraina Island, Kiribati.

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The alarm was initially raised on Wednesday afternoon when the coastguard received reports that the group had failed to return from a fishing trip.

There was mounting concern for their safety as the skiff had no engines, little provisions and no life saving equipment.

After searching for several days with negative results, the Hercules air crew located the men at 4.15pm on Friday and dropped food, water, two VHF radios, a coast guard issued PLB, a signal mirror and flares to the skiff.

In conjunction with AMVER, watchstanders at the JRCC in Honolulu and the Kiribati Search and Rescue Liaison coordinated two vessels, the Shourong Harmony and the Moamoa to assist with the rescue of the men.

At 1.50pm on Saturday the Shourong Harmony successfully reached the group and took them aboard, with the vessel then rendezvousing with the Moamoa, before transferring the men back to Kiribati.

Despite being stranded at sea for four days the group were reported to be in good spirits.