Watch: Four Australian tourists rescued at sea after ‘bobbing on surfboards’ for two days off coast of Indonesia

Four Australians have been rescued after drifting on their surfboards for almost two days off the coast of Indonesia.

The surfers went missing along with three unnamed Indonesians after their boat from Nias to a remote “castaway” island was caught in bad weather on Sunday evening, with waves three to four metres high amid heavy rain.

Some 38 hours later, a charter boat found three of the Australians – Steph Weisse, Will Teagle and Jordan Short – “bobbing on surfboards”.

Dramatic video footage captured the moment the exhausted trio realised they’d been found, waving their arms and letting out cries of joy as they floated on their boards in the now tranquil water.

Rescuers also found two of the Indonesians – though a frantic search continues for the third – and located the fourth surfer Elliot Foote, who had had left the group in an attempt to paddle to shore and find help, according to his father, who was being interviewed on Australia’s ABC network when he learned his son was safe.

“Hey dad, Elliot here, I am alive, safe now, love you, chat later. From Elliot,” said a text message, which Peter Foote read on air.

“It is so typical of him just to do that – ‘I am safe, it is all good, talk later.’ There is no sign of ‘oh my God, I am coming home’,” the relieved father told ABC. “It is great, good news. I will have to talk to him and want to see a photo and see what he looks like.”

He later added that he hoped his son would enjoy the rest of his trip in “paradise”.

No longer missing: Steph Weisse, Jordan Short, Elliot Foote and Will Teagle (left to right)

30th celebrations gone wrong

The Australians were in Indonesia to celebrate Foote’s 30th birthday at Pinang, a private island close to North Sumatra. But while one boatload of the party reached their destination safely on Sunday evening, the second vessel never turned up – sparking a rescue operation from Indonesian authorities with support from Australia.

“At the moment, all victims have been evacuated to the Pinang resort to receive further medical attention,” Octavianto, the head of a local rescue agency who goes by only one name, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“For the last victim, the search is ongoing by rescuers around waters near Tuangku island and Palawak island.”

Boat accidents are not unusual across Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, as lax safety standards mean vessels are often overloaded without adequate life-saving equipment.

In 2018, more than 150 people died when a ferry sank in one of the world’s deepest lakes on Sumatra, while a boat carrying more than 800 people was stuck for two days off East Nusa Tenggara after running aground in shallow waters.