In this photo provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, fishermen from Indonesia stand on a beach on Bedwell Island, 313 km west of Broome, Australia, on April 17, 2023. , Photo Credit: AP
Eight Indonesian fishermen feared drowned and another 11 have been rescued after spending six days without food or water on a barren island off the northwestern Australian coast following a powerful tropical cyclone, authorities said on April 19.
Two primitive wooden Indonesian fishing boats were caught in the path of Cyclone Ilsa, which made landfall on Friday as Australia’s most powerful storm in eight years, packing winds with an apparent record gust of 289 km (180 miles) per hour .
One of the boats, Putri Jaya, sank in “extreme weather conditions” on 11 or 12 April, while Ilsa was gathering strength in the Indian Ocean and headed towards the coast, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority cited survivors. Giving said in a statement.
“The other boat, Express 1, became stranded on Bedwell Island, with 10 people on board, on a sandy surface about 300 km (200 miles) west of the Australian coastal tourist town of Broome in the early hours of April 12,” the authority said.
“The sole survivor, daughter Jaya, spent 30 hours in the water before washing ashore on the same island,” the statement said.
“All of them (on Bedwell Island) were without food and water for six days and were rescued on Monday night,” the authority said.
Indonesian authorities told the Australian Broadcasting Corp that surviving daughter Jaya used fuel cans to swim out to sea.
The survivors were spotted on Monday by the Australian Border Force, which patrols Australia’s northern approaches to smuggling and other illegal activity, from an aircraft on routine surveillance missions. A Broome-based rescue helicopter was deployed and recovered all 11 riders in the failed light.
Gordon Watts, a manager at helicopter provider PHI Aviation, said the rescue helicopter crew was unable to land on the sand.
“They had to do winch recovery, which is a challenging task in itself,” Mr Watt said. “The time of day meant it was night on the crew during the rescue, so they had to transition to using night vision goggles.”
The survivors were taken to Broome Hospital where the Border Force said in a statement that they were reported to be in “good health despite their difficult circumstances”. They have been brought from Broome to the northern city of Darwin, from where they will be flown back to Indonesia, the statement said. Indonesian authorities have been informed.
“This incident highlights the dangers of traveling in small boats unsuitable for rough seas and adverse weather events, both of which are common in Australia’s northern waters,” the statement said.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which manages search and rescue in Australian waters, did not immediately respond on Wednesday when asked whether other possible survivors were being sought. Bedwell Island is part of the Rowley Shoals, a group of three coral reefs.
The missing Indonesian fishermen are expected to be the only casualties from Ilsa, which was a maximum Category 5 cyclone when it crossed the coast of the Pilbara region, southwest of the Western Australia state of Broome.
The 289 kilometers per hour (180 mph) gust recorded on an island off the Pilbara coast was the fastest ever recorded by Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology equipment in the country.
While the reading remains preliminary and requires further analysis, the bureau said on Tuesday it breaks the previous record of 267 kph (166 mph) set by Cyclone Vance off the Pilbara coast in 1999.