Fishermen fight off sharks with their hands in the Gulf of Mexico after boat sinks
Three fisherman survived 24 hours in shark-infested waters in the Gulf of Mexico after fighting off the man-eaters with their bare hands.
The men were left stranded in the water with no means of communication when their 24-foot fishing boat sank at roughly 10am on Saturday.
The Coast Guard searched 1,200sqm before finding the three men in their life jackets off the Louisiana coast.
US Coast Guard Heartland said that two of the men were fending off sharks with their hands when a rescue helicopter arrived.
Crewmembers quickly pulled the two on board, a third had to be winched.
They were later treated for shark bites and are in a stable condition in hospital, with one suffering from hypothermia, Coast Guard officials said.
Dramatic footage from the rescue showed the men in lifejackets in the sea.
One man was hoisted out of the water by a helicopter, while two others were pulled onto a rescue boat, US Coast Guard Station Venice said.
The men were rescued roughly 25 miles from Empire, a small community southeast of New Orleans.
US Coast Guard Heartland said a concerned family member had reported the men missing on Saturday evening.
“We searched an area roughly the size of Rhode Island and are thankful to have found these missing boaters,” said Lt Cmdr. Kevin Keefe, a Sector New Orleans Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator.
“If the family member had not notified the Coast Guard, and if these three boaters were not wearing life jackets, this could’ve been a completely different outcome.”
In a post about the rescue on Facebook, the guard said they were “rescued just in the nick of time”.
Investigators have not said what caused the fishing boat to sink, The Sun Herald reported officials as saying.
