shark attacks inflatable catamaran

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3 sailors rescued after sharks attack and partially destroy their inflatable boat off Australian coast

Updated on: September 6, 2023 / 8:30 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Three sailors from Russia and France were rescued on Wednesday after the inflatable catamaran they were trying to navigate from Vanuatu to Australia came under attack from sharks, authorities said.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it responded to an alert from an emergency beacon at about 1:30 a.m. When rescuers arrived at the scene more than 500 miles east of the Australian coast in the Coral Sea, they found both hulls of the men's 9-meter boat had been damaged after several shark attacks.

The agency enlisted the help of a Panamanian-flagged ship, the vehicle-carrying "Dugong Ace," which was able to complete the rescue and take the two Russians and one Frenchman aboard. A rescue plane also flew to the scene.

"The three males were very happy to be rescued, and they're all healthy and well," said Joe Zeller , duty manager at the agency's Canberra response center.

Footage shot by a rescue helicopter shows the catamaran bobbing in calm seas as it is approached by the hulking Dugong Ace.

The men, aged between 28 and 64, are due to arrive in the Australian city of Brisbane on Thursday.

Zeller said a journey from the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu to Australia on such a vessel would usually take two to three weeks.

Aerial photos showed major damage to the catamaran, with the front section of one hull completely missing.

Zeller said the GPS-encoded emergency beacon had saved the men's lives by allowing rescuers to quickly pinpoint their location and mount an appropriate rescue.

"This is a timely reminder to always carry a distress beacon while on the water," the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.  "GPS-equipped EPIRBs and personal locater beacons (PLBs) can save your life in an emergency."

Zeller said there were many reasons why a shark may attack a boat.

"However, the motivations of these sharks is unclear," Zeller said.

The Coral Sea is brimming with reef sharks and other apex species such as tuna and marlin.

According to the Australian government, it is home to more sharks "than almost any other survey site in the world."

Last year, three men whose fishing boat sank off the Louisiana coast were rescued "in the nick of time" by the U.S. Coast Guard after surviving for more than a day despite being attacked by sharks.

AFP contributed to this report.

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AMSA coordinates rescue of three sailors after boat attacked by sharks in Coral Sea

Three men have been plucked to safety after their inflatable catamaran was attacked by sharks and began sinking in the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast.

Key points:

• Three sailors have triggered an emergency beacon at sea and were rescued by a passing cargo ship
• They reported their vessel was damaged by sharks
• They are expected to reach dry land this week

Two Russians and a French citizen were sailing from Vanuatu to Cairns when both hulls of their nine-metre boat, Tion-Russian Ocean Way, were damaged in several shark attacks, about 835 kilometres south-east of Cairns.

The men activated their emergency beacon at 1:30am, and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) requested the assistance of a nearby vehicle carrier along with the Cairns-based Challenger Rescue Aircraft.

The vehicle carrier, Dugong Ace, collected the group, and reported them all to be in good health. 

It is scheduled to arrive in Brisbane on Thursday.

What were they doing?

The Russian Geographic Society confirmed the catamaran was part of a round-the-world expedition.

A spokeswoman said the hulls were punctured by cookiecutter sharks in the Coral Sea.

She said the expeditioners, Siberians Evgeny Kovalevsky and Stanislav Beryozkin, had been joined by Frenchman Vincent Thomas Garate before they left Vanuatu on August 28.

Their expedition marked 250 years since the birth of explorer Adam Johann von Kruzenstern and 200 years from discovery of Antarctica by Russian explorers.

It started from St Petersburg on July 1, 2021, and aimed to set a record for cruising distance on a frame-inflatable sailing trimaran.

But the sailors were rescued from the trimaran, named Russian Ocean Way, off Chile in March.

The Tion-Russian Ocean Way is the second boat of the expedition, launched in April.

It was also punctured by sharks in Tahiti in June.

AMSA responder Joseph Zeller said the crew were calm and extremely well prepared during the rescue.

"The sailors were very lucky because they had an emergency distress beacon … which enabled us to tell the most appropriate and fastest response to rescue them," he said.

"They were very well prepared, they were calm, but of course, they were elated to be rescued."

Mr Zeller said it was an extremely unusual rescue, given the cause of the boat's damage, but "all's well that ends well in this case".

Unusual craft

Inflatable sailing catamarans are not unusual. But ocean-crossing inflatable cats are.

Minicat Australia dealer Tim Rice said he sold production portable inflatable boats up to 4.6m used for beach and lake sailing, and occasional coastal island-hopping.

He said he had never heard of a 9m inflatable catamaran.

He said his vessels didn't need a trailer or a boat ramp.

"You can pack it into the bags they come in and chuck it in your car and drive wherever," he said.

"When it comes to a nine-metre one, I'm not sure. Nine metres is a big boat. That portability aspect doesn't quite come into play. I don't know what the advantage of it being inflatable is.

"Something of that size probably should have multiple chambers. So if a shark did puncture one of them, hopefully the boat was still afloat — which sounds like it was if they were rescued — which is great news."

Mr Rice said he was surprised to hear of a shark attack on any boat.

He questioned what may have attracted a shark to the boat.

"Sharks and now orcas ... are getting a really bad rap," he said.

"But if you look at the statistics, it's not something I even think about when I'm surfing or sailing.

"I'm looking to do offshore sailing and at some stage in my life, I probably wouldn't do it in an inflatable boat."

He said it was brave of the men to attempt the journey.

"But I'm sure they've done all their research and hopefully they had all the right safety gear," he said.

"It looks like they did if they deployed an EPIRB to get rescued."

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3 sailors whose boat was damaged in several shark attacks have been rescued in Coral Sea

In this photo provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, a partially submerged catamaran is shown during a rescue of 3 sailors in the Coral Sea, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. Three sailors from Russia and France were rescued on Wednesday after the inflatable catamaran they were trying to navigate from Vanuatu to Australia came under attack from sharks, authorities said. (Australian Maritime Safety Authority via AP)

In this photo provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, a partially submerged catamaran, right, is shown during a rescue of 3 sailors in the Coral Sea, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. Three sailors from Russia and France were rescued on Wednesday after the inflatable catamaran they were trying to navigate from Vanuatu to Australia came under attack from sharks, authorities said. (Australian Maritime Safety Authority via AP)

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BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Three sailors from Russia and France were rescued on Wednesday after the inflatable catamaran they were trying to navigate from Vanuatu to Australia came under attack from sharks, authorities said.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it responded to an alert from an emergency beacon at about 1:30 a.m. When rescuers arrived at the scene more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the Australian coast in the Coral Sea, they found both hulls of the men’s 9-meter (30-foot) boat had been damaged after several shark attacks.

The agency enlisted the help of a Panamanian-flagged ship, the vehicle-carrying “Dugong Ace,” which was able to complete the rescue and take the two Russians and one Frenchman aboard. A rescue plane also flew to the scene.

“The three males were very happy to be rescued, and they’re all healthy and well,” said Joe Zeller, duty manager at the agency’s Canberra response center.

The men, aged between 28 and 64, are due to arrive in the Australian city of Brisbane on Thursday.

Zeller said a journey from the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu to Australia on such a vessel would usually take two to three weeks.

Aerial photos showed major damage to the catamaran, with the front section of one hull completely missing.

Zeller said the GPS-encoded emergency beacon had saved the men’s lives by allowing rescuers to quickly pinpoint their location and mount an appropriate rescue. He said there were many reasons why a shark may attack a boat.

“However, the motivations of these sharks is unclear,” Zeller said.

3 rescued from Coral Sea after multiple shark attacks damaged inflatable catamaran

Officials reminded citizens "always carry a distress beacon while on the water."

Three people were rescued from the Coral Sea after "multiple shark attacks" damaged their catamaran.

Following an alert from a Russian-registered emergency position-indicating radio beacon, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority responded to the distress call early Wednesday morning at around 1:30 a.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time.

The beacon came from a nine-meter (29 feet) inflatable catamaran Tion with three people aboard -- two Russian citizens and one French citizen.

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The sailing party had departed from Vanuatu, in the South Pacific, and was traveling to Cairns, a coastal city in Queensland, Australia. While details are slim, the stranded people were in their catamaran 835 km (519 miles) off the coast of Cairns in the Coral Sea, per the AMSA. Both hulls of the catamaran had been “damaged following several shark attacks,” the AMSA confirmed in a release.

After receiving the beacon’s signal, AMSA sent a Cairns-based Challenger Rescue Aircraft to the catamaran’s location and secured the assistance of the Dugong Ace, a vehicle carrier sailing under a Panama flag.

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The three people were rescued and are expected to arrive in Brisbane, Australia on Thursday morning.

No further information was immediately available.

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Sailors rescued after several shark attacks damage inflatable catamaran in Coral Sea: Video

Under the cover of night Wednesday, maritime authorities in Australia recued a sailing party after several shark attacks damaged their sinking catamaran drifting in the Coral Sea, officials said.

An alert from a radio beacon led rescue crews to a 29-foot inflatable catamaran about 1:30 a.m. local time after someone on board the vessel sent a distress signal out, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority reported.

The vessel, named Tion, departed from Vanuatu in the South Pacific and was en route to Cairns in Queensland, Australia when contact was established, maritime officials wrote in a release. The Coral Sea, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, extends east of Australia and New Guinea and south of the Solomon Islands.

Watch the sailors get rescued after several sharks damaged their inflatable catamaran.

Australian surfer attacked by shark: Surfer attacked in Australia by suspected great white shark hospitalized, clinging to life

A ping and 'several shark attacks'

After reviving the distress alert, officials dispatched a Cairns-based Challenger Rescue Aircraft to the catamaran's location. A large vehicle carrier sailing under a Panama-flag also assisted in the mission.

Rescue crews said the vessel was damaged from several shark attacks and found three people on board − two Russians and one French citizen.

Crews rescued all three people, officials said.

Victims expected to arrive on land Thursday

No injuries were reported and the trio was expected to arrive in Brisbane, Australia Thursday morning.

Maritime officials reminded boaters to always bring a registered beacon when out on the water.

"It could help save your life," officials said in the release.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior correspondent for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @nataliealund.

See the damage caused to a catamaran after shark attacks in the Coral Sea

Three people on an inflatable catamaran were rescued in the Coral Sea, off Australia’s coast, after the vessel was damaged by "several shark attacks."

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The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) say they received a distress call from an emergency radio beacon early on Wednesday and asked for assistance from the nearby Panama-flagged vehicle carrier Dugong Ace.

Aerial footage shows the 9-metre catamaran had a large section of hull missing.

"There are many reasons that vessels are attacked by sharks,” Joe Zeller from AMSA explains. "However, the motivation of these sharks is unclear."

The vessel was on a round-the-world expedition and was located some 835 kilometres from its destination in Australia.

Officials say those rescued, two Russian and one French citizen aged between 28 and 64, are healthy, well and "happy to be rescued.”

See the damage to ship in the video at the top of this article.

With files from Reuters

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3 people had to be rescued from their 30-foot inflatable catamaran after sharks attacked the boat, officials say

• Three people were rescued from their inflatable vessel after sharks attacked its hull, officials said.
• The trio were around 510 miles off Australia's northeastern coast, according to rescue authorities.
• When found, the 30-foot catamaran was missing large portions of its hull, rescuers reported.

Three men on board an inflatable catamaran were rescued off Australia's northeastern coast on Wednesday after their vessel was attacked several times by sharks.

The trio — two Russians and one French citizen — were about 510 miles from shore when Australian authorities picked up their distress alert in the early morning, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement.

The Russian vessel had departed from the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu and was heading to the city of Cairns in Queensland, the AMSA said.

Both hulls of their 30-foot catamaran "have been damaged following several shark attacks," authorities added.

Officials said they asked a nearby Panama-flagged ship, the Dugong Ace, to help rescue the three people. A Challenger rescue aircraft was also sent to assist from Cairns.

Related stories

When found, the catamaran had "large sections of its hull missing," AMSA Response Centre manager Joe Zeller said.

"There's many reasons that vessels are attacked by sharks. However, the motivations of these sharks is unclear," Zeller said. 

Footage shot by a Challenger rescue plane shows the state of the vessel when rescuers arrived.

—Matthew Loh (@ma2loh) September 6, 2023

The three sailors are aged between 28 and 64, in healthy condition, and on board the Dugong Ace on their way to Brisbane, Zeller said. Their full trip would likely have taken between two to three weeks, he said.

"The emergency beacon absolutely saved their lives," Zeller added. "It enabled the rescue coordination center to identify their precise location and empower the most appropriate and quickest response to rescue them."

The trio are expected to arrive in Brisbane on Thursday, the AMSA said in its statement.

Sharks and orcas have been making headlines this summer amid a rising number of reports documenting attacks on vessels . But it's still unclear what causes these encounters , or if they are related at all.

Watch: Deep-sea explorers discovered creatures at the bottom of the ocean feasting on decaying whales

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Follow our news, recent searches, three rescued from shark-bitten inflatable catamaran off australia after setting sail from vanuatu, advertisement.

The trio are unharmed, says a spokesperson for the voyage, which is aimed at promoting Russia and Siberia. 

A view shows the boat that carried three people who were rescued from the Coral Sea. (Photo: Reuters/Australian Maritime Safety Authority/Handout)

SYDNEY: Three men were plucked to safety on Wednesday (Sep 6) after sharks started tearing chunks from their inflatable catamaran as they attempted to sail to Australia from Vanuatu - a distance of more than 2,000km.

The men - two Russians and a French citizen - were picked up by a cargo ship while floating in the shark-filled Coral Sea.

"Both hulls of the vessel have been damaged following several shark attacks," the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said in a statement.

The authority said the trio had planned to sail from the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu to the city of Cairns in tropical northern Australia.

They activated an emergency distress beacon - registered to the Tion, a 9m inflatable catamaran - in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

AMSA requested the assistance of a Panama-flagged vehicle carrier, which successfully conducted the rescue. The boat was located about 800km southeast of Cairns in the Coral Sea.

Footage shot by a rescue helicopter shows the catamaran bobbing in calm seas as it is approached by the hulking Dugong Ace, a vehicle transporter that came to the sailors' aid.

The Coral Sea is brimming with reef sharks and other apex species such as tuna and marlin.

According to the Australian government, it is home to more sharks "than almost any other survey site in the world".

The three passengers are due to arrive in Brisbane on Thursday, AMSA said.

The men were unharmed, said Anna Kosikhina, a spokesperson for the voyage, which she said was aimed at promoting Russia and Siberia and began two years ago.

"They were all intact. Nobody is hurt," she said.

"The only thing is that the balloons of the inflatable catamaran were blown away."

This was not the first accident on the voyage, Kosikhina said, with the steering device of a previous vessel failing during a previous leg from Chile to Easter Island.

The crew continued the expedition on an inflatable catamaran by the same manufacturer that had been stored on the island for several years.

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Three sailors rescued from shark-bitten catamaran off Australia

Officials said sharks attacked the inflatable catamaran and tore off large chunks of the vessel’s hull.

Three men on board a catamaran off the northeastern coast of Australia have been rescued after sharks tore off sections from the hull of their inflatable vessel, according to officials.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the three sailors – two Russian and one French citizen – were rescued early on Wednesday.

Keep reading

Ceo of australia’s embattled qantas steps down early, vanuatu’s new prime minister to ‘revisit’ australia security pact, vanuatu to elect new prime minister amid crisis over australia pact, australia to send more police to solomon islands, extend mission.

They were picked up by a Panama-flagged vehicle carrier – the Dugong Ace – while floating in the Coral Sea, some 835km (519 miles) southeast of Cairns in Australia.

Satellite photos and a video on the AMSA website showed a large part of the stern of the nine-metre (30-foot) yacht torn away.

“Both hulls of the vessel have been damaged following several shark attacks,” AMSA said in a statement.

The authority said the sailors, aged between 28 and 64, had planned to sail from the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu to Cairns, a distance of more than 2,000km (1,200 miles). They activated an emergency distress beacon in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The three sailors are due to arrive in Brisbane on Thursday, AMSA said.

“There’s many reasons why vessels are attacked by sharks. However, the motivations of these sharks are unclear,” said Joe Zeller, the acting manager of the AMSA Response Centre. The three sailors “were very happy to be rescued and they are all healthy and well and aboard the Dugong Ace,” he added.

The Coral Sea where the men were found is brimming with reef sharks.

According to the Australian government, it is home to more sharks “than almost any other survey site in the world”.

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Sharks repeatedly attack yacht off Australian coast, forcing sailors to abandon damaged vessel

Nine-metre inflatable catamaran was part of round-the-world expedition, article bookmarked.

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Three people were rescued off the northeastern coast of Australia after multiple shark attacks inflicted damage to their catamaran.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said on Wednesday that both the hulls of the vessel, located in the Coral Sea near Cairns , were damaged after several shark attacks.

Satellite images and a video available on the Amsa website showed a substantial portion of the yacht ’s stern being ripped apart.

“The vessel departed from Vanuatu and was bound for Cairns (Australia) when contact was established,” Amsa said in a statement.

The yacht was located about 835km (519 miles) southeast of Cairns in the Coral Sea when rescue teams responded to the emergency at about 1.30am on Wednesday.

The nine-metre inflatable catamaran called Tion was reportedly a Russian-registered vessel. The Russian Geographic Society confirmed the catamaran was part of a round-the-world expedition, according to ABC News.

Amsa said in the statement that they sought help from a Panama-flagged vehicle carrier called Dugong Ace and tasked Cairns-based Challenger Rescue Aircraft to the scene, which effectively carried out the rescue operation.

The three passengers – comprising two Russians identified as Evgeny Kovalevsky and Stanislav Beryozkin, and French citizen Vincent Thomas Garate Etienne – are scheduled to reach Brisbane on Thursday.

The spokesperson for the Russian Geographic Society said their expedition commemorated two significant milestones: the 250th anniversary of the birth of explorer Adam Johann von Kruzenstern and the bicentennial celebration of the discovery of Antarctica by Russian explorers.

It commenced its journey from St Petersburg on 1 July 2021, with the objective of setting a record for the longest cruising distance covered on a frame-inflatable sailing trimaran, according to local reports.

However, the sailors were rescued from the trimaran, named Russian Ocean Way, off the coast of Chile in March. The Tion-Russian Ocean Way is the second vessel of the expedition, and it was launched in April.

It was also punctured by sharks in Tahiti in June.

Joseph Zeller, an Amsa responder, was quoted as saying by ABC News that “the sailors were very lucky because they had an emergency distress beacon... which enabled us to tell the most appropriate and fastest response to rescue them”.

“They were very well prepared, they were calm, but of course, they were elated to be rescued.”

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3 Men Rescued from Coral Sea After ‘Several Shark Attacks’ Damage Their Inflatable Catamaran

The trio were rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning, over 500 miles off the coast of Australia

Three men have been rescued from the Coral Sea after "several shark attacks" damaged their inflatable catamaran.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority confirmed in a media release that both hulls of the 30-foot catamaran had been damaged following the attacks more than 500 miles off the Australian coast.

The three men, who were traveling to the Cairns in the far north of Queensland, were rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The boat’s emergency distress beacon sent out a call at 1:30 a.m. local time. 

russian.ocean.way Instagram

A video posted on the AMSA’s official Twitter, now known as X, shared footage of the search and rescue effort. “Remember to always bring a registered beacon with you when you're out on the water - it could help save your life,” the tweet accompanying the clip read. 

“AMSA requested the assistance of Panama-flagged vehicle carrier Dugong Ace and tasked the Cairns-based Challenger Rescue Aircraft to the scene. Dugong Ace successfully conducted the rescue and collected three people,” the release added.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority via AP

According to NBC News , the men had set off from the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Aug. 28 on the latest stage of an around-the-world trip.

Per the outlet, the sailors, aged between 28 and 64, are said to be unharmed. Their belongings were also saved, but the catamaran was lost.

The trio, two Russians and one Frenchman, are due to arrive in Brisbane, Australia on Thursday morning, the release said. 

Joe Zeller, a senior manager at AMSA, said in a video statement that the catamaran had “large sections of its hull missing,” reported CNN ,  

"An emergency beacon absolutely saved their lives," he continued. “There are many reasons vessels are attacked by sharks but the motivations of these sharks is unclear.”

Zeller added that the men were “very happy” to be rescued. 

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Per the voyage’s Instagram account @russian.ocean.way , the three men onboard were Evgeny Kovalevsky, Stanislav Berezkin and Vincent Thomas Etienne.

According to one post, their vessel was first attacked by sharks on Monday and began to sink on Tuesday.

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Three sailors saved off australian coast after ‘several shark attacks’ left them shipwrecked.

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Three sailors were saved from a sinking inflatable catamaran early Wednesday morning after “several shark attacks” left them shipwrecked off the northeastern coast of Australia.

The men — a French citizen and two from Russia — were located by rescuers after their emergency beacon sent out signals of distress at 1:30 a.m. local time, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement.

The sailors, who are between the ages of 28 and 64, departed from the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Tuesday last week and were headed for the northeastern Australian city of Cairns when sharks attacked their ship’s inflatable hulls.

A “large section” of the hull was missing when the 30-foot Russian-registered cataraman was finally located by emergency rescuers, AMSA duty manager Joe Zeller said.

“Both hulls of the vessel have been damaged following several shark attacks,” AMSA said.

“There’s many reasons that vessels are attacked by sharks. However, the motivations of these sharks is unclear,” Zeller said in a video shared by AMSA.

The trek from Vanuatu to Cairns, a journey of more than 1,400 miles, would typically take between two to three weeks, depending on the weather, Zeller noted.

“The three males were very happy to be rescued,” Zeller said, adding that all three were in good health following the tumultuous trip.

The sailors’ identities have not been shared by authorities. They are expected to arrive in Brisbane on Thursday morning.

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3 sailors rescued from inflatable catamaran after shark attack.

Three sailors on an around-the-world journey were rescued from a sinking inflatable catamaran after it came under repeated attack by sharks more than 500 miles off the Australian coast. Sept. 6, 2023

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