1 of 2 | The Panama-flagged Dugong Ace vehicle carrier comes to the rescue of a shark-damaged catamaran hundreds of miles off the coast of Australia. Image courtesy Australian Maritime Safety Authority
Three people stranded aboard a catamaran that had been damaged by sharks hundreds of miles off the Australian coast have been rescued, officials said Wednesday.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement the trio had left Vanuatu and were bound for Cairns when their 29-foot catamaran was attacked by sharks. Advertisement
The men activated their distress beacon, which AMSA responded to at around 1:30 a.m. as the craft was about 930 miles east of the the Australian coast, Joe Zeller of AMZ said in a recorded statement.
“The catamaran was 9 meters in length and had large sections of its hull missing,” he said. “There’s many reasons that vessels are attacked by sharks but the motivation of these sharks is unclear.”
AMSA had requested the assistance of the Panama-flagged Dugong Ace vehicle carrier, which successfully rescued the two Russians and Frenchman.
A 12-second clip of the rescue shot from the air was published by AMSA online showing the catamaran dead the water with the Dugong nearby.
“The three males were very happy to be rescued and they are all healthy and well,” Zeller said, adding that the trip the men were on would have take between two and three weeks to complete depending on the weather. Advertisement
The men are expected to arrive in Brisbane on Thursday, AMSA said, while stating that a distress beacon should always be aboard a vessel.
“The emergency beacon absolutely saved their life,” Zeller said.
