High Seas Rescue

Two Burmese fishermen have been rescued after spending 25 days adrift in shark-infested waters in an industrial-sized cooler after their ship sank. The Independent reports that the men, both in their twenties, survived on rain water that collected in the bottom of the vessel and chunks of fish stored in the cooler. The men managed to climb into the cooler as their 30-foot wooden fishing boat sank in heavy seas on December 23 and survived extreme heat, high winds, and torrential rain from Cyclone Charlotte. That same rain may have allowed them to survive. A helicopter patrolling Australia for illegal trawlers and boats carrying would-be asylum-seekers spotted the men in the red cooler waving their T-shirts. The other 18 members of the Thai-Burmese crew are presumed dead.