Three sailors from Russia and France were rescued after the inflatable catamaran they were trying to navigate from Vanuatu to Australia came under attack from sharks, authorities said.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it responded to an alert from an emergency beacon at about 1.30am. When rescuers arrived at the scene more than 800km east of the Australian coast in the Coral Sea, they found both hulls of the men’s 9m yacht had been damaged after several shark attacks.
The agency enlisted the help of a Panamanian-flagged ship, the vehicle-carrying Dugong Ace, which was able to complete the rescue and take the two Russians and one Frenchman aboard. A rescue plane also flew to the scene.
“The three males were very happy to be rescued, and they’re all healthy and well,” said Joe Zeller, duty manager at the agency’s Canberra response centre.