Eight fishermen are feared to have drowned and one other 11 have been rescued from an island off the Australian coast after they had been caught within the path of a tropical cyclone.
The group spent six days with out meals or water on a barren island after their two wood boats had been hit by Cyclone Ilsa, which is assumed to have carried record-breaking gusts of 180mph.
The Australian authorities mentioned the boys had been rescued from Bedwell Island after being noticed by probability from a airplane on a routine surveillance mission.
One of the boats, Putri Jaya, sank in “extreme weather conditions” on 11 or 12 April whereas Ilsa was gathering power over the Indian Ocean, Australian Maritime Safety Authority mentioned in an announcement.
“They all remained (on Bedwell Island) for six days without food and water before being rescued on Monday night,” the authority added.
The solely identified survivor from the Putri Jaya spent 30 hours within the water.
He tied himself to a gas can to remain afloat at sea earlier than finally washing ashore on the island, in accordance with Putu Sudayana, the pinnacle of Indonesia’s search and rescue company in Kupang.
The different boat, Express 1, ran aground on 12 April with 10 males aboard.
Bedwell Island is a sandy formation about 200 miles west of the Australian coastal vacationer city of Broome.
The survivors had been noticed on Monday from an Australian Border Force plane, which patrols the nation’s northern approaches for smuggling and different criminality.
A Broome-based rescue helicopter was deployed and winched all 11 males aboard.
Pic: Australian Maritime Safety Authority by way of AP
A fishing boat beached on Bedwell Island, round 200 miles west of the Australian coast. Pic: Australian Maritime Safety Authority by way of AP
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Gordon Watt, a supervisor at helicopter supplier PHI Aviation, mentioned the rescue crew had been unable to land on the sand.
“They had to conduct winch recoveries which, in itself, is a challenging task,” Mr Watt instructed the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“The time of day meant that nightfall was upon the crew during the rescue, so they had to transition to using night vision goggles.”
The survivors had been taken to Broome Hospital the place authorities reported them in good well being. They are anticipated to be flown again to Indonesia quickly.
A gust of 180mph on an island off Australia’s western coast was the quickest ever recorded by the nation’s climate bureau.
While the studying stays preliminary and requires additional evaluation, the bureau mentioned it beats the earlier report of 166mph set by Cyclone Vance in the identical area in 1999.
Content Source: information.sky.com