Burma fishermen survive 25 days after shipwreck without food

[Tiriol]

The source for the news is BBC.

Burma fishermen in amazing escape
By Nick Bryant
BBC News, Sydney

Two Burmese fishermen have survived for almost a month in shark-infested waters by floating on a large ice box after their fishing boat sank.

The men, in their 20s, were spotted by an Australian coastal patrol aircraft at the weekend and winched to safety by a helicopter.
The fishing boat sank in heavy seas off the north coast of Australia 25 days ago, with the loss of 18 lives.
The survivors had no safety equipment and no means of communication.

Hungry and dehydrated

They survived by clinging to the ice-box that was about the size of a desk, according to officials from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa).
The monsoon season and recent cyclone storms in the region make their survival all the more remarkable, and Australian officials said it was amazing that the men were spotted in such a vast expanse of water.
Their ordeal began on 23 December, when their wooden fishing boat sank in heavy seas.
They were eventually spotted by the Australian coastal patrol plane, then rescued by a helicopter which flew them to Thursday Island, off northern Queensland.
Health officials said the pair were hungry and dehydrated, but were recovering well and had already been released from hospital.
They had gulped down water as soon as they were winched aboard the rescue helicopter.
The men will now be questioned by police and immigration officials who are keen to discover how they survived and what they did for food and water.
The men said they were the only crew members who managed to cling to a flotation device, and could not say precisely where their Thai-registered boat went down.
The Australian authorities have decided not to mount a search for any other possible survivors.

[Tribun]

Guess this is a new world record for the longest time without drink and food. The current holder of that record is a man from Austria who was innocently locked into a cell in 1979 and then forgotten for 18 days by the bumbling idiots running that police station.

[thejester]

They had food and water - they drank rain water and ate half-digested fish vomited up by seabirds that landed on the esky.

The more interesting question is whether or not they'll be given asylum. Apparently they were refugees who were forced into the fishing game after they crossed into Thailand; you'd hope the Immigration Department would have the heart to give them asylum after what they've been through.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I think the Thais remember the Vietnamese boat people, and they don't want to accomodate any of these people at all. Apparently, the Vietnamese boat people weren't treated very well in the camps. I would suspect that it is somewhat linked to Thai nationalism in which they regard themselves superior to their neighbours.

[Broomstick]

28 days without food is not unknown. It's really unpleasant, but within human capabilities.

In these sorts of situations survival is usually aided by drinking rain water and eating whatever food becomes available, even if such "food" is not regarded as edible in normal times.

Poon Lim survived 130+ days floating on wreckage after his ship was sunk by a German U-boat in WWII. So long term survival at sea is possible.

[Sky Captain]

IIRC few years ago three Mexican fishermen in a small open boat drifted for nine month across Pacific ocean after their engine broke down surviving from drinking rain water and eating raw fish and birds which landed on their boat.

[Baka^Ni]

The story develops

SCEPTICISM mounted yesterday over claims by two Burmese that they had floated for 25 days inside an industrial-sized esky after their fishing boat sank in the Indian Ocean.

The two men, aged 22 and 24, rescued on Saturday, emerged yesterday from hospital on Thursday Island with few physical signs of their ordeal.

Medical staff expressed surprise at their remarkably good condition, given the 30C-plus days and Cyclone Charlotte-generated rough weather while they were adrift.

Queensland Heath spokesman Jim Guthrie said the men were "in a good condition" when they were discharged.

With their only water collected from the bottom of their unlikely liferaft, the men suffered little more than a few abrasions and dehydration.

"Doctors have reported that they are in remarkable condition, given their claimed exposure to the elements for almost a month," a source told The Australian. "There is no sunburn, no chafed lips, no discernible signs that the men were out there that long."

An Immigration Department spokesman said the men had been taken to nearby Horn Island, where they were being interviewed and held in a motel for several days.

"I think it will take several days to get to the facts and get to the bottom of their claims."

Unless the men claim refugee status, they would normally be treated as "survivors, lost at sea" and returned to their home within weeks. But the Immigration spokesman said it was too early to report on the men's intentions or bona fides.

The men, who were not carrying any identification, have told authorities that they were indentured workers, forced to work aboard the Thai fishing vessel.

They say their 18 fellow crew members died at sea and did not have any flotation devices when their boat sank in a squall southeast of Indonesia.

A spokesman for the Australian Maritime Authority said a search-and-rescue mission was not launched for the rest of crew, after Saturday's rescue because the two men had been unable to provide information on where the 10m vessel had sunk.

The men were sighted by a coast care aircraft 60 nautical miles northwest of Thursday Island. The crew of the Dash-8 aircraft, which was on a routine patrol, called in a helicopter rescue.

Helicopter pilot Terry Gadenne was stunned they had lived to tell the tale.

"The week before was really rough, strong winds feeding into the cyclone in the gulf, and a lot of heavy rain," he said.

"In the days just prior to the rescue, it was fairly hot and some isolated thunderstorms.

"It was a really hot time, and if they were in the sun, they would have been in dire straits."

Assuming this is true, any particular reason why they'd lie? Hoping for preferential refugee treatment? Or confusion from being lost at sea.