Eleven Indonesian fishermen stranded without food on an Australian atoll for six days have been rescued and are receiving medical treatment, Australian authorities said on Wednesday.
Ten men were shipwrecked on Bedwell Island, about 300km west of Broome, a coastal town in north-west Australia. Her boat was hit by a powerful tropical cyclone while fishing in the Indian Ocean.
An eleventh fisherman from another vessel had also reached shore after spending 30 hours in the water. Authorities fear his nine crew members drowned after their boat sank.
According to photos released by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the stranded fishermen built a makeshift camp on the beach by salvaging what they could from their stranded boat nearby.
The fishermen were spotted by an Australian Border Force reconnaissance aircraft and were airlifted and evacuated from the island on Monday night thanks to a rescue helicopter dispatched to the scene.
They are now receiving medical treatment ashore in Australia and will return to Indonesia once they recover, officials said.
“On arrival on the mainland, individuals received appropriate medical attention and assistance,” the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement.
Isolated and inhospitable, Bedwell Island is essentially a stretch of white sand with no natural shelter or source of fresh water.
Tropical Cyclone Ilsa made landfall in western Australia on Friday, bringing sometimes record-breaking wind gusts to the country’s coastal areas.