Shipwrecked on a desert island, coconuts and other fruits formed the basis of the sailors' diet.

This is from the SAT exam. The problem is that the word shipwrecked is misplaced, but it is not the point.

I can't understand why it is other fruits and not the other fruits. The island, obviously, didn't have all fruits present, but some group of them; that's why the other fruit would refer to "the fruits that grew at the island."

Later you have 'the sailors', a similar situation, but now with the.