Paddleboarding couple survive three days adrift at sea

An Australian couple has survived three days at sea after their paddleboard was caught in a strong current that took them out to sea.

The pair, believed to be in their 40s, were found 55km from North West Island, Queensland, where they had been enjoying a wilderness experience.

After three days treading water, the couple were rescued by Lorne Benussi and his father Denis, who were anchored at a sandbar in Yellow Patch on Curtis Island while out on a recreational fishing trip. When they heard the couple’s screams coming from the water during a driving rainstorm on Monday night last week (9 January 2022), the fishermen launched their tender to assist them.

Benussi told The Guardian that the couple, thought to be Benjamin Ng and his partner Pei from Brisbane, were so weak that they had to be dragged onboard.

“They just collapsed; they could hardly move. They were just absolutely buggered, the pair of them,” he said. The couple were taken back to the boat, where they ate, drank and had hot showers.

“The young bloke, he must have drank a bit of salt water. He was sort of cramping and very broken.

“I gave them cordial, trying to get their sugars up … they were up and down all night trying to get water.”

According to the Daily Mail the couple witnessed at least four boats go past only for them to miss their cries for help.

A passing fisherman, Lorne Benussi, was asleep on his boat when he heard screams for help. #9News https://t.co/IPXFqKARB5

— 9News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) January 12, 2023

Benussi said the couple were extremely lucky to have floated towards the coast when they did. “If they had floated the other way it would’ve been a whole different story. They even said a lot of boats went past them and they were yelling out and screaming out, waving their arms around but no one saw them.”

Due to low tides, the Benussis couldn’t take the paddleboarders back to the mainland until the following day. Upon arrival at Keppel Bay Marina in Yeppoon at 11am on Tuesday (10 January 2022), they were taken by ambulance to Capricorn Coast Hospital where they are in a stable condition, despite their ordeal.