A GROUP of fisherman nearly met their fate after a shark snapped at their inflatable boat, causing it to flood with water.
The harrowing shark attack and heroic rescue happened over the weekend off a coast near Perth, Australia.
ABC NewsThe group of fisherman could be seen waving down their rescuers in the middle of the ocean[/caption]
ABC NewsThe Department of Fire and Emergency Services located the stranded boat in the middle of the night[/caption]
Skipper Jacob Ovesby explained that the close-to-catastrophic accident happened after the group hooked a shark on Saturday afternoon.
They attempted to reel in the large predator but were met with resistance.
The shark managed to sink its teeth into the front of their small pontoon.
“We were fishing and we caught a shark, and when we brought it to the front of the boat it popped the front pontoon,” he recounted.
The hole in the front of the boat created a leak, allowing some water to flood into the boat.
“There was a bit of water onboard because we popped the front. It’s seen better days.”
The pontoon also began to partially deflate, leaving the fisherman with very little surface area to keep them from sinking into the depths of the ocean.
To add to the terrifying situation, the water damaged the fuel lines and engine, so they could not get the boat to start up.
The men were forced to drop an onboard anchor to prevent them from drifting further from the safety of shore.
After a few hours passed, people on land reported the group missing, and emergency services immediately coordinated a rescue effort.
Ovesby and his friends were relieved to learn that other people were watching out for them.
“Good for people on the beach to make the right call and call for help, that’s probably the most important thing.”
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services located the boat at 12:45am.
Footage from above shows the grow of men eagerly waving down their rescuers.
Marine Rescue commander Jamie Saunders led the search to find the unlucky fishermen.
He said that the group was exhausted and cold, but they had not sustained any injuries.
“We picked them up and they slept most of the way back,” he said.
“They were cold when we found them, they are probably still sleeping now,” he added.
The rescue team said it took nearly four hours to get the stranded fisherman safely back to land.
Sharks are regular inhabitants of the waters off the coast, but shark attacks on boats are extremely rare.
GettyA shark bite punctured a small pontoon off the coast of Australia over the weekend[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
