Shipwrecked Man Rescued From Marine Beacon in Queensland, Australia

The yacht was found run aground between the northern tip of Bribie Island and Caloundra on Tuesday, while the man himself was discovered by a rescue operation that included jet skiers, a helicopter, water police, and the coastguard. They found him clinging to a marine beacon 1.5 miles off Bribie Island. He had swum over a mile to reach the beacon.

According to Senior Constable Mark Muddieman from the Sunshine Coast water police, “It was a pretty dramatic rescue. He was obviously happy to see us and to be rescued. He didn’t want to spend the night on one of those beacons. He was pretty overjoyed, but upset that his boat is still on the beach.”

To attract attention, the man smartly covered the beacon with his hands and tried communicating an SOS symbol to passing ships. A container ship eventually did pick up his message, after about three hours.