‘PRETTY RARE’

Couple Survives Three Days at Sea—on a Paddleboard

They were just starting to go under in shark-infested waters when someone finally spotted them.

A couple who ventured out to an Australian island for a “wilderness experience” got much more than they bargained for when they found themselves swept out to sea on paddleboards. The couple, said to be from Brisbane, had spent three days floating in shark-infested waters when they were finally spotted by a boater who noticed them “treading water,” The Guardian reports. “They just collapsed, they could hardly move. They were just absolutely buggered, the pair of them,” Lorne Benussi, the boater who rescued them, was quoted as saying. He said he’d heard screams for help and looked out into the water to see the pair starting to go under. They had joined more than 2o other people who’d traveled to the remote North West Island for a camping excursion. “It’s a very unfortunate circumstance and it’s pretty rare. That’s the first time they’ve lost anyone from the island in a paddleboard situation,” said Curtis Ferry Services’ owner Adam Balkin. The pair was transported to a local hospital for treatment and were said to be in stable condition after the terrifying experience. “If you were just floating in the water with no life jacket or nothing on and you make it more than 36 hours, you got to buy some lotto tickets,” Balkin said.