Eleven Indonesian fishermen were rescued by Australian authorities after surviving six days without food or water on a tiny desert island in the Indian Ocean.
The survivors were rescued from Bedwell Island, located 195 miles (313km) west off the coast of the town of Broome in Western Australia.
Nine other fishermen are feared dead.
The fishermen were left stranded after their two vessels were destroyed last week by Tropical cyclone Ilsa, one of the strongest storms to hit the region in years.
Two primitive wooden Indonesian fishing boats were caught in the path of the cyclone, which made landfall Friday, with winds gusting at an apparent record of 289 kilometers (180 miles) per hour.
One of the boats, Putri Jaya, sank in “extreme weather conditions” on April 11 or 12 while Ilsa was gathering strength over the Indian Ocean and heading toward the coast, Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement, citing survivors.
The other boat, Express 1, ran aground with 10 men aboard in the early hours of April 12 on Bedwell Island, a sandy outcrop some 300 kilometers (200 miles) west of the Australian coastal tourist town of Broome, the authority said. The only known survivor from the Putri Jaya spent 30 hours in the water before washing ashore on the same island, Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement, citing survivors.
“They all remained (on Bedwell Island) for six days without food and water before being rescued on Monday night,” the authority said.
The Putri Jaya survivor had tied himself to a fuel can to stay afloat at sea before swimming to the island, said Putu Sudayana, head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency in Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara province where the fishermen live in the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago.
The survivors were spotted Monday by the Australian Border Force, which patrols Australia’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 where Border Force said in a statement they were reported to “be in good health despite their ordeal.”
