Australia rescues Indonesian fishermen from desert island after cyclone

SYDNEY - Australian authorities said on Wednesday (April 19) they had rescued 11 Indonesian fishermen from a desert island in the Indian Ocean after their vessel shipwrecked during a powerful cyclone, stranding them there for six days without food and water.

Eight fishermen are still missing, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.

The survivors were rescued on Monday night from Bedwell Island, about 313 km west off the coast of the town of Broome in Western Australia state.

A border security aircraft spotted them during a surveillance mission following cyclone Ilsa, which smashed into Australia's northwest as a category five storm last week, setting new wind speed records.

They were then moved to Broome and given necessary medical care, an AMSA spokesperson said in a statement.

The fishermen informed authorities that two vessels had been caught in the cyclone, one with 10 crew and the other with nine. The ship with 10 crew washed ashore at Bedwell Island but the second vessel sank in bad weather, AMSA said.

One person from the missing vessel spent 30 hours in the water before also being washed ashore at Bedwell Island, a small sandy cay within the Clarke Reef coral atoll.

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