Eight Indonesian fishers are feared drowned and 11 have been rescued after spending six days without food or water on a barren island off the northwest Australian coast after a powerful tropical cyclone, authorities said yesterday.
Two wooden Indonesian fishing boats were caught in the path of Cyclone Ilsa, which made landfall on Friday as Australia’s most powerful storm in eight years, with winds gusting at an apparent record of 289kph.
One of the boats, the Putri Jaya, sank in “extreme weather conditions” on Tuesday or Wednesday last week while Ilsa was gathering strength over the Indian Ocean and heading toward the coast, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement, citing survivors.
Photo: AP
The other boat, the Express 1, ran aground with 10 fishers aboard in the early hours of Wednesday last week on Bedwell Island, a sandy outcrop about 300km west of the Australian coastal town of Broome, the agency said.
The only known survivor from the Putri Jaya spent 30 hours in the water before washing ashore on the same island, the statement said.
“They all remained [on Bedwell Island] for six days without food and water before being rescued on Monday night,” the agency said.
The Putri Jaya survivor used a fuel can to stay afloat at sea, Indonesian officials told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The survivors were spotted on Monday by the Australian Border Force, which patrols the country’s northern approaches for smuggling and other illegal activity, from a plane on a routine surveillance mission.
A Broome-based rescue helicopter was deployed and winched all 11 aboard in failing light.
Gordon Watt, a manager at helicopter provider PHI Aviation, said the rescue helicopter crew had been unable to land on the sand.
“They had to conduct winch recoveries which, in itself, is a challenging task,” Watt said. “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 were taken to Broome Hospital.
The Border Force said in a statement that they were reported to “be in good health despite their ordeal.”
They have been flown from Broome to the northern city of Darwin, from where they would be flown back to Indonesia, the statement said, adding that Indonesian authorities have been notified.
“This incident highlights the dangers of undertaking journeys in small boats unsuited to rough seas and adverse weather events, both of which are common in Australia’s northern waters,” the statement added.
The missing Indonesian fishers are expected to be the only fatalities from Ilsa.
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