Three men who clung desperately to a capsized 5-metre tin can for more than 12 hours about 200 kilometers off the coast of Australia were finally rescued by a combined air and seacraft operation.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) received a distress beacon signal reporting three men missing in the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait, far north Queensland, at around 3.30pm on Thursday.
Three men have been rescued from an overturned tin can that was adrift about 200km off the coast of Australia
A Challenger rescue plane was scrambled from the Cairns base to find two men sitting on the upturned fuselage, while one held on from the water.
The Challenger crew reported that conditions were ‘unfavorable’ with a swell of 1.5 meters and winds of up to 37 km/h.
However, the aircraft dropped a life raft and communications kit to the men, which then allowed them to remain in contact with the ship.
The fishing vessel Torres Express was called in to find the men and picked them up around 3:30 am on Friday morning.
A Conroy police vessel was also dispatched to the area from Thursday Island, while a second Challenger rescue aircraft was sent to maintain visual contact with the life raft until the Torres Express could retrieve them.
A rescue plane spotted the three men adrift and was able to drop a life raft and communications kit to the stranded trio
Despite their long ordeal, the men are reportedly safe and sound with no serious injuries.
An AMSA spokesperson said the incident highlighted the importance of a distress signal beacon.
“If your vessel is in distress, a registered distress beacon allows AMSA to respond immediately to an incident, which could be the difference between life and death in an emergency situation,” the spokesperson said.