Eight people have drowned and 11 others have been rescued from an island off the coast of Australia after they got trapped in a tropical storm, according to Sky News.
The group spends six days without food or water on a barren island after their wooden boats are washed away by Hurricane Elsa.
According to the Australian authorities, the people in distress were rescued from Bidwell Island. They are accidentally spotted from an airplane on a routine surveillance mission.
One of the ships, Putri Jaya, sank on 11-12 April due to severe weather conditions.
The only known survivor of Putri Jaya spent 30 hours in the water.
According to the head of the Indonesian search and rescue agency, the man strapped himself to a fuel jerry can to prevent him from drowning, and eventually made it ashore on the island.
The other ship, Express 1, ran aground on April 12 with 10 people on board.
As Origo mentioned earlier, there is a devastating cyclone raging in Australia. Tropical storm Elsa came from the Indian Ocean and hit the northwestern part of Australia. Because of the hurricane, strong winds gusting at a speed of 200 km caused devastation in the affected areas.
