Bangkok, April 19, (dpa/GNA) – Eleven fishermen from Indonesia, have survived six days without food or drinking water on an uninhabited island hundreds of kilometres off Australia’s west coast.
The men’s boat was hit by cyclone Ilsa last week, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) announced on Wednesday. The tropical storm later hit the Pilbara region of Australia. A second fishing boat had sunk, with the nine occupants probably killed, Australian broadcaster ABC quoted Indonesian rescue services as saying.
A fisherman from the sunken boat had clung to a canister in the sea for 30 hours, before the surf finally washed him ashore on the island, rescuers said. The men were rescued from Bedwell Island – a tiny sand island – on Monday, when the crew of an Australian Border Force (ABF) aircraft discovered them during a routine patrol.
Eventually, a helicopter was dispatched to the island from the coast. The fact that the fishermen had survived for so long was remarkable. Rescue expert Gordon Watt said they must have been “unimaginably scared.” The men had built a small camp out of wreckage from the boat.
The rescued men were examined in a hospital in Broome, Australia, and were in surprisingly good shape, broadcaster ABC reported.
On their home island of Roti, off the western tip of Timor, relatives and friends had waited anxiously for days for news. “I know all these people very well,” said one resident. “They all have young children waiting for them at home.”
Bedwell Island is part of Rowley Shoals, a group of three extremely remote coral reefs. Politically, the reefs belong to Australia.
GNA