Trashman
01-19-2009, 06:11 PM
TWO Burmese men rescued from a giant icebox in the Torres Strait off Queensland had survived 25 days at sea after a fishing boat sank southeast of Indonesia.
The men drifted hundreds of kilometres in the red box before a Coastwatch plane spotted them on Saturday about 60 nautical miles off Horn Island, in the Torres Strait.
They told rescuers they were forced to crew a 10m-long Thai fishing boat that broke up about 200 nautical miles north of Australia, sources told The Courier-Mail.
As the wooden boat splintered into the ocean, the crew sent out distress signals but were ignored, the men told authorities.
The two survivors climbed into the icebox as other crew searched desperately for something to grab from the wreck.
They saw a Thai man floating past them in the ocean but were unable to help, they said.
It is understood the men managed to survive by drinking rain water that gathered at the bottom of the box and by eating pieces of fish that were also in the container.
Drifting through shark infested waters, the men lost count of time but have told authorities they may have survived up to 25 days before they were spotted.
Coastwatch pilots circled the men and called in a helicopter that winched them to safety.
Emergency Management Queensland helicopter pilot Terry Gadenne told Channel 7 the men were ecstatic to see rescuers.
"When we winched down the rescue crewmen into the water, the guy in the esky leapt out," Mr Gadenne said.
"He was desperately keen to get on and pulled them down into the water – he was pretty keen to get away from the water. When they got up they sculled two litres of water each within seconds.
"It's a bloody big ocean to be drifting around in."
Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Tracey Jiggins said the men would have been unable to survive 25 days without a flotation device.
A Department of Immigration spokesman said both men were receiving medical care in the Thursday Island Hospital.
"Representatives from the department have made initial contact with the people and will, in coming days, confirm their identity and determine their intentions," he said.
The men claim they were being forced to crew the boat, which was fishing in Indonesian waters.
The men drifted hundreds of kilometres in the red box before a Coastwatch plane spotted them on Saturday about 60 nautical miles off Horn Island, in the Torres Strait.
They told rescuers they were forced to crew a 10m-long Thai fishing boat that broke up about 200 nautical miles north of Australia, sources told The Courier-Mail.
As the wooden boat splintered into the ocean, the crew sent out distress signals but were ignored, the men told authorities.
The two survivors climbed into the icebox as other crew searched desperately for something to grab from the wreck.
They saw a Thai man floating past them in the ocean but were unable to help, they said.
It is understood the men managed to survive by drinking rain water that gathered at the bottom of the box and by eating pieces of fish that were also in the container.
Drifting through shark infested waters, the men lost count of time but have told authorities they may have survived up to 25 days before they were spotted.
Coastwatch pilots circled the men and called in a helicopter that winched them to safety.
Emergency Management Queensland helicopter pilot Terry Gadenne told Channel 7 the men were ecstatic to see rescuers.
"When we winched down the rescue crewmen into the water, the guy in the esky leapt out," Mr Gadenne said.
"He was desperately keen to get on and pulled them down into the water – he was pretty keen to get away from the water. When they got up they sculled two litres of water each within seconds.
"It's a bloody big ocean to be drifting around in."
Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Tracey Jiggins said the men would have been unable to survive 25 days without a flotation device.
A Department of Immigration spokesman said both men were receiving medical care in the Thursday Island Hospital.
"Representatives from the department have made initial contact with the people and will, in coming days, confirm their identity and determine their intentions," he said.
The men claim they were being forced to crew the boat, which was fishing in Indonesian waters.