Three men whose fishing boat sank in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast were rescued after surviving for more than a day despite being attacked by sharks that inflicted deep cuts on their hands and shredded one of their life jackets, according to their rescuers.
Rescue crews found them only after one of the fishermen managed to send a text message from a nearly drained cellphone, US Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Keefe said.
"It's difficult for us to describe how lucky they were," Keefe told NBC's Today show on Tuesday. "All these things happened in their favour."
The fishermen left Venice, Louisiana, during the weekend and became stranded when their 7.3m boat sank. The Coast Guard launched a search after a family member called Saturday night saying they hadn't returned.
Using boats, planes and helicopters, the Coast Guard spent hours searching an area of the Gulf larger than Rhode Island, but found no sign of the missing fishermen.