Fishermen stranded on the island without food or water for six days were rescued

Australian authorities have rescued 11 Indonesian fishermen after they were stranded on a small desert island in the Indian Ocean for six days without food or water.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the fishermen were rescued from Bedwell Island, 195 miles off the coast of Broome, Western Australia, on Monday.

However, it is feared that by then nine other fishermen had lost their lives.

These fishermen’s boats were hit by a ‘Malsa’ last week in the worst storm to hit the region in many years, leaving the fishermen stranded on the deserted island.

The Border Security aircraft tracked down the fishermen during a surveillance mission following the Category Five storm in Australia.

Australian authorities diverted a rescue plane to investigate, after which a rescue helicopter was tasked with ferrying the fishermen to Broome.

Surviving fishermen said they had two large boats with 10 crew members each, but one boat sank after being hit by a storm.

Nine of the 10 crew members of the other boat were missing.

The sole survivor of the sinking boat reportedly spent 30 hours in the water clinging to a jerry can and was fortunately rescued by another boat.

In photos released by Australian authorities, fishermen can be seen waving to a rescue helicopter as their wrecked boat rests close to shore.

Gordon Watt, manager of helicopter supplier PHI Aviation, said it was unbelievable the fishermen had survived so long.

“It must have been really difficult for him,” Watt told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It is truly a desolate region.’

He added that the crew of the rescue helicopter faced difficulties in landing on the sand due to low visibility.

According to him: ‘During the rescue mission they had to resort to winch recoveries which itself is a difficult task. Daytime meant night was falling on the crew during the rescue so they had to use night vision goggles to search in the dark.’

He added: ‘It was apparent that using the sensors on the helicopter the team was able to identify that the survivors were signaling that they were in desperate need of water and food.’

The survivors were taken to Broome Hospital where their condition is said to be out of danger despite the difficulties.

Only the missing Indonesian fishermen are expected to have been killed by Typhoon Malsa.

The storm was downgraded to a Category Five as it crossed the coast of the Pilbara region southwest of Broome.

Gusts of 180 mph were recorded on an island off the Pilbara coast during the storm. It was the fastest gust ever recorded by Australian Bureau of Meteorology instruments.

Although it is an early reading, the bureau said on Tuesday it broke the previous record of 166mph set by Cyclone Vance off the Pilbara coast in 1999.