Sharks damaged the catamaran. The ship with passengers on board begins to sink
Off the coast of Australia, sharks attacked a catamaran carrying three sailors. The boat began to sink, and the country’s authorities immediately organized help. The men managed to be saved.
A few months ago, there were reports that tourists should start watching out for orcas, as they attack boats en masse. This behavior of animals was observed near the Iberian Peninsula and alerted experts and vacationers.
It seems that sharks also sometimes target ships. Recently, off the coast of Australia, representatives of this species seriously damaged a catamaran, as a result of which it began to sink. There were people on board.
Sharks attacked the catamaran
A shocking event took place near Australia. As a result, three sailors got into serious trouble. They were sailing on a catamaran in the Coral Sea when their ship was attacked by a shark. An unknown species of predator damaged the boat. Fortunately, a quick rescue operation was organized for the injured trio by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). The men returned to land.
The crew, who planned to travel around the world, documented their trip on Instagram. It was here that the sailors revealed that they had encountered sharks for the first time on September 4. They severely damaged the left rear cylinder of the nine-meter inflatable catamaran, causing it to sink.
The next day, the sharks attacked the catamaran again. They damaged the left side of the boat, which then began to submerge underwater. At this point, the crew sent an SOS signal.
“The sailors were very fortunate to have an emergency beacon that enabled us to make the most appropriate and quickest response to the rescue,” said AMSA rescuer Joseph Zeller.
The culprit of the confusion turned out to be a cookie-cutter shark
Representatives of a species aptly named cookie-cutter shark were responsible for the dangerous situation. Their length does not exceed 55 cm, but, as you can see, they can pose a threat to humans. They also have a reputation for carving round holes as if cut with a cookie cutter. That’s why they are called in English cookiecutter.
AMSA immediately responded to the signal sent by the ship. The catamaran, sailing from Vanuatu, was approximately 800 km from its destination, Cairns. Upon inspection, it became clear that both hulls had sustained significant shark damage.
Unable to rescue the sailors on its own, AMSA requested assistance from the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship Dugong Ace and dispatched a rescue aircraft to the site. The vessel arrived at the scene just 45 minutes after the first distress call. He took the catamaran crew, consisting of two Russians and one French citizen.
What were the sailors doing in this place?
The Russian Geographical Society confirmed that the men’s journey was part of a round-the-world expedition.
The Siberian expeditioners, Yevgeny Kovalevsky and Stanislav Beryozkin, were joined by Frenchman Vincent Thomas Garate. On August 28, they left Vanuatu. Their expedition commemorated the 250th anniversary of the birth of explorer Adam Johann von Kruzenstern and the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica by Russian explorers.
