The three fishermen were on board a trawler that sank about 15km (9 miles) off the east coast near Byron Bay. The fishermen were thrown into the sea early on Wednesday after their ship hit a reef. One of them, Michael Williams swam for more than 10 hours to find help for the two companions he left. After 10 hours Michael Williams crawled onto New Brighton Beach, north of Byron Bay. The exhausted swimmer was found on a beach.
Then the coastguards were able to find one of the men, John Jarrat, at sea north-east of Ballina, suffering from hypothermia and dehydration. According to coastguards John spent 30 hours at sea, clinging to debris. A spokesman for the Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter service said, that as the second fisherman survived through night they hope that the same has occurred with the third, the skipper of the boat. The search continues for him.
Chris Gort, who saw Mr Williams on the beach, informed that Williams had pretty bad cuts and bruises to his legs and his arms; he was exhausted and badly sunburnt. Williams raised the alarm about his two companions and a second fisherman was picked up by a rescue helicopter 30 hours after first being thrown into the ocean.
Jarratt opined that he and skipper Charlie Picton, an experienced fisherman, had clung to an insulated cooler after the ship went down, but that in the darkness the two became separated.
