Three men clinging to an esky have been rescued off the "perilous" Western Australia south coast.
The men were fishing near Eclipse Island off the Albany coast when their vessel capsized in heavy seas and started to sink this morning.
They ended up in the water and, luckily, had life jackets and an esky to keep them afloat.
Footage from Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) jets shows the men clinging to an esky in the water before their rescue.
Emergency device crucial
Authorities said an EPIRB was likely what saved the group.
Albany Sea Rescue coordinator Chris Johns said without the lifesaving device, the men may have died at sea.
Mr Johns said the EPIRB was set off just before 10.30am, alerting authorities to the men's exact coordinates.
At about the same time, friends of the men had reached out to authorities and reported their friends may be in trouble because they were due to come back but had not returned.
Mr Johns said without the EPIRB and only being alerted to the situation by friends, the sea rescue team would have had no idea where to start looking.
"In seas like this at the moment, it would be really difficult," he said.
AMSA was also alerted and dropped a life raft to the men but it blew away.
One of the men was taken to hospital with suspected hypothermia and the other two were taken to the Albany Sea Rescue base.
