Three sailors have been rescued from a floating catamaran left badly broken by shark assaults greater than 500 miles (804km) off the Australian coast.

Rescuers arrived on the scene within the Coral Sea after being alerted to an emergency beacon at 1.30am on Wednesday - and located main injury to the 9m (29ft) boat.

The three males - two Russians and one Frenchman aged between 28 and 64 - are "healthy and well", in keeping with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's (AMSA) responsibility supervisor Joe Zeller.

He stated a journey protecting the roughly 1,240-mile (2,000km) distance between Vanuatu and the jap coast of Australia would usually take two to 3 weeks on this type of vessel.

Photos taken from above confirmed vital injury to the catamaran - which has two parallel hulls linked by a platform - after a number of shark assaults.

The motivation for the sharks to assault is "unclear", however Mr Zeller stated he was extra sure for the explanation behind the swift rescue.

The males had the GPS-encoded emergency beacon to thank, with rescuers capable of shortly pinpoint their location.

Read extra from Sky News:Woman in important situation after shark assault at New York seashoreShark assaults snorkeler in 'very scary' incident off British coast

The AMSA secured the assistance of a vehicle-carrying, Panamanian-flagged ship referred to as Dugong Ace, which took the sailors on board. They are anticipated in Brisbane, in jap Australia, on Thursday.

A rescue airplane was additionally dispatched to the scene.

Content Source: information.sky.com