23 October 2023 , 00:17
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Horror struck a pontoon sailing off the Australian coast when a massive shark took a bite out of the rubbery material and caused their small boat to start sinking — stranding them for hours as rescue crews scrambled to save them.
Five men had been fishing on an inflatable dinghy near their fishing vessel, noted the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News. They reeled in the catch of the day, a shark they found while in Alexander Bay off the Esperance coast about 700 kilometres southeast of Perth at around 5pm local time on Saturday.
As they reeled the beast in, however, it sliced a chunk out of the front of the tiny vessel with its teeth, immediately forcing its deflation as it also began to take on dangerous amounts of water. The fuel lines and engine were damaged, too, and the group struggled to get everything back up and running. They were effectively stranded.
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The boat was first spotted from the air by a search team (ABC)Doing the only thing they could think of, they dropped the anchor onboard to lessent the weight but also literally anchor the boat in place, as it had started to drift away — a dangerous occurrence should the small group hope to be rescued.
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The call about their disappearance came in at around 8pm when the men still weren't back ashore, which prompted local police to send out air and sea rescue and search crews as they desperately hoped to find the missing dinghy.
Their efforts eventually paid off, and they found it over four hours later at around 12:45am local time on Sunday. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES)'s Marine Rescue Esperance team and a spotter plane with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) were part of the search crews who found it.
It remains unclear what caused the shark to attack the boat, though the fishermen had just tried to real it in (Getty Images)The men, according to Esperance Marine Rescue commander Jamie Saunders, were cold, tired and wet, but ultimately uninjured. He noted that they likely slept for a long time following their ordeal. It took several more hours to find them and return them to land at Bandy Creek in Esperance.
Skipper Jacob Ovesby told the publication that he'd caught many sharks in his days fishing the area where he and his men found themselves stranded, but one has never popped his boat, he said.
"Good for people on the beach to make the right call and call for help, that's probably the most important thing," he said following the traumatic ordeal.