Two friends miraculously survived four nights on the roof of their bogged ute as hungry crocodiles circled below.
Charlie Williams, 19, and Beau Bryce-Maurice, 37, and their dog Mindee, became stranded when their four-wheel drive ute became bogged on a weekend fishing trip north of Broome last Friday.
The duo became bogged on the Dampier Peninsula when they tried to turn around on a sand track.
They tried to dig the car out but to no avail.
"We were sleeping on the marsh … about 9:00pm the tide started coming in," Mr. Williams said.
"We were panicking, stressing, had to grab all our stuff … (and) sleep in the back of the car."
"We got up the next day and there was no way we were getting the car out so we went into full survival mode, … just food and water … to make ourselves last."
They rigged a temporary shelter with blankets and towels on the vehicle's tray to shelter from the beating sun and elements.
He said on the first night they saw a crocodile in shallow water, after his dog ran around close to the water's edge.
"We could see the eyes hanging in the background," he said.
Mr. Bryce-Maurice said they would allow themselves a lolly and some corn every two hours and had to improvise to start fires at night.
'We couldn't use fire after the second night because the tide would come up and engulf the whole car, so we took my car battery and used some wire to make a hot element to make a fire at night,' he told the West Australian.
By the last day they had almost no food left and only two of their 48 bottles of water remaining, with plans to boil water if they weren't found.
Fortunately, a helicopter from a nearby oil rig who joined police in the search spotted flashes of light and led rescuers to the stranded men.
'It was hot, it was crazy to be honest. It wasn't the best experience I've had in my life. We were getting wet every day, our skin was burnt and peeling, it was hot and stressful,' Mr. Williams told The West.
Local police said the area was infested with crocodiles and the pair, who were so happy to be rescued they were crying, were lucky to have survived.
Charlie Williams, 19, and Beau Bryce-Maurice, 37, and their dog Mindee, became stranded when their four-wheel drive ute became bogged on a weekend fishing trip north of Broome last Friday.
The duo became bogged on the Dampier Peninsula when they tried to turn around on a sand track.
They tried to dig the car out but to no avail.
"We were sleeping on the marsh … about 9:00pm the tide started coming in," Mr. Williams said.
"We were panicking, stressing, had to grab all our stuff … (and) sleep in the back of the car."
"We got up the next day and there was no way we were getting the car out so we went into full survival mode, … just food and water … to make ourselves last."
They rigged a temporary shelter with blankets and towels on the vehicle's tray to shelter from the beating sun and elements.
He said on the first night they saw a crocodile in shallow water, after his dog ran around close to the water's edge.
"We could see the eyes hanging in the background," he said.
Mr. Bryce-Maurice said they would allow themselves a lolly and some corn every two hours and had to improvise to start fires at night.
'We couldn't use fire after the second night because the tide would come up and engulf the whole car, so we took my car battery and used some wire to make a hot element to make a fire at night,' he told the West Australian.
By the last day they had almost no food left and only two of their 48 bottles of water remaining, with plans to boil water if they weren't found.
Fortunately, a helicopter from a nearby oil rig who joined police in the search spotted flashes of light and led rescuers to the stranded men.
'It was hot, it was crazy to be honest. It wasn't the best experience I've had in my life. We were getting wet every day, our skin was burnt and peeling, it was hot and stressful,' Mr. Williams told The West.
Local police said the area was infested with crocodiles and the pair, who were so happy to be rescued they were crying, were lucky to have survived.
Music: "River of Io" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: ABC , Daily Mail, West Australian
Comments
Post a Comment