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Young couple are rescued treading water in the middle of the ocean after THREE days at sea after losing their paddleboards: Fisherman spotted them ‘floating past in the tide’
- A young couple were lost at sea for almost three days
- They were saved by a fisherman from Yeppoon, QLD
- The couple were taken by the tide after setting up camp
A young couple has been miraculously saved by a fisherman after being lost at sea for three days when they were swept out on their paddleboards.
Lorne Benussi, from the coastal town of Yeppoon in Queensland, was on a fishing trip with his father when he came across the desperate pair.
He told Daily Mail Australia he anchored his boat at Yellow Patch on Curtis Island and went to sleep on Monday night before hearing voices outside calling for help.
‘We saw them drifting past the boat, so we went over and dragged them onto our dinghy,’ he said.
‘The poor buggers had no energy, they were completely exhausted. They couldn’t even sit up.’
Lorne Benussi, from the coastal town of Yeppoon in Queensland (pictured), was on a fishing trip with his father when he came across the desperate pair
The couple had drifted all the away from North West Island, which is about 75 kilometres northeast of Gladstone
The former commercial fisherman offered the starving couple food and water before they took a hot shower and were given clean clothes.
The pair, who lost their paddleboards long before they were rescued, had already drifted past four boats in the area and Mr Benussi’s was the ‘last in line’.
The couple didn’t say much to Mr Benussi but were ‘just grateful’ to be saved.
He explained that the man was not fairing as well as his partner as he ‘barely ate anything’ and only drank water, half of which he ‘chucked up’.
The pair ‘were up all night drinking water and cramping’, due to severe dehydration and consuming too much salt water.
The couple’s ordeal began after they set up camp on North West Island on Saturday and went paddleboarding.
Their relaxing afternoon quickly turned into a terrifying test of survival when they were swept out to sea in strong tides.
Mr Benussi was anchored at Yellow Patch (pictured) on Curtis Island when the couple drifted past
The former commercial fisherman dragged the couple onto his dinghy before helping them onto his boat (pictured)
The couple’s ordeal began after they set up camp on North West Island (pictured) on Saturday and went paddleboarding
It’s understood no one had called police to report their disappearance as the couple weren’t set to return from their trip until Tuesday.
Mr Benussi said the pair ‘weren’t going to last much longer’ and that ‘no one would’ve found them.’
‘It was very fortunate they floated towards the coast otherwise it’d be a completely different news story.’
He waited until the morning to get the couple back to shore due to the low tides and poor phone reception.
His boat arrived at the Keppel Bay Marina in Yeppoon at 11am on Tuesday.
The couple were taken by an ambulance to Capricorn Coast Hospital. They are in a stable condition.
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