shark bites catamaran

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3 sailors rescued after sharks attack and partially destroy their inflatable boat off Australian coast

Updated on: September 6, 2023 / 8:30 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Three sailors from Russia and France were rescued on Wednesday after the inflatable catamaran they were trying to navigate from Vanuatu to Australia came under attack from sharks, authorities said.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it responded to an alert from an emergency beacon at about 1:30 a.m. When rescuers arrived at the scene more than 500 miles east of the Australian coast in the Coral Sea, they found both hulls of the men's 9-meter boat had been damaged after several shark attacks.

The agency enlisted the help of a Panamanian-flagged ship, the vehicle-carrying "Dugong Ace," which was able to complete the rescue and take the two Russians and one Frenchman aboard. A rescue plane also flew to the scene.

"The three males were very happy to be rescued, and they're all healthy and well," said Joe Zeller , duty manager at the agency's Canberra response center.

Footage shot by a rescue helicopter shows the catamaran bobbing in calm seas as it is approached by the hulking Dugong Ace.

The men, aged between 28 and 64, are due to arrive in the Australian city of Brisbane on Thursday.

Zeller said a journey from the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu to Australia on such a vessel would usually take two to three weeks.

Aerial photos showed major damage to the catamaran, with the front section of one hull completely missing.

Zeller said the GPS-encoded emergency beacon had saved the men's lives by allowing rescuers to quickly pinpoint their location and mount an appropriate rescue.

"This is a timely reminder to always carry a distress beacon while on the water," the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.  "GPS-equipped EPIRBs and personal locater beacons (PLBs) can save your life in an emergency."

Zeller said there were many reasons why a shark may attack a boat.

"However, the motivations of these sharks is unclear," Zeller said.

The Coral Sea is brimming with reef sharks and other apex species such as tuna and marlin.

According to the Australian government, it is home to more sharks "than almost any other survey site in the world."

Last year, three men whose fishing boat sank off the Louisiana coast were rescued "in the nick of time" by the U.S. Coast Guard after surviving for more than a day despite being attacked by sharks.

AFP contributed to this report.

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3 rescued from Coral Sea after multiple shark attacks damaged inflatable catamaran

Officials reminded citizens "always carry a distress beacon while on the water."

Three people were rescued from the Coral Sea after "multiple shark attacks" damaged their catamaran.

Following an alert from a Russian-registered emergency position-indicating radio beacon, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority responded to the distress call early Wednesday morning at around 1:30 a.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time.

The beacon came from a nine-meter (29 feet) inflatable catamaran Tion with three people aboard -- two Russian citizens and one French citizen.

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The sailing party had departed from Vanuatu, in the South Pacific, and was traveling to Cairns, a coastal city in Queensland, Australia. While details are slim, the stranded people were in their catamaran 835 km (519 miles) off the coast of Cairns in the Coral Sea, per the AMSA. Both hulls of the catamaran had been “damaged following several shark attacks,” the AMSA confirmed in a release.

After receiving the beacon’s signal, AMSA sent a Cairns-based Challenger Rescue Aircraft to the catamaran’s location and secured the assistance of the Dugong Ace, a vehicle carrier sailing under a Panama flag.

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The three people were rescued and are expected to arrive in Brisbane, Australia on Thursday morning.

No further information was immediately available.

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Three Sailors Rescued After Multiple Shark Attacks Sank Their Catamaran

A three-man crew was attempting to set a distance record but a school of sharks sank their vessel off the coast of australia..

Three sailors were rescued off the coast of Australia after repeated shark attacks sank their nine meter (30-foot) catamaran. On Monday morning, the sailors sent out a distress signal , and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority managed to coordinate a rescue of the crew with the assistance of a vehicle carrier that happened to be nearby at the time of the attack that sank the catamaran.

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The sailors say that sharks had already assailed their vessel, the Tion , along their round-the-world expedition, but repairs allowed the catamaran to keep going. The Tion was bound for Cairns after having departed from Vanuatu, according to the Independent . And the catamaran was 835 kilometers (519 miles) southeast of Cairns in the Coral sea when the crew was rescued at 1:30 a.m. All three sailors made it safely onto the Panama-flagged vehicle carrier, the Dugong Ace, but the Tion was reportedly left behind to sink.

By the sailors’ own account, a school of sharks attacked the Tion, damaging the catamaran’s inflatable hulls past the point of repair. The sailors tell 7 News that there may have been over 30 sharks in the water, though the species of shark and their size remains unclear. The shark attack was enough to sink the Tion once for all, as the sharks bit into the balloons on either side of the catamaran.

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The balloon s were unable to keep the vessel safely above the shark-infested waters; the sailors say sharks were jumping out of the water and biting chunks off the inflatable hulls. The sailors believe the sharks mistook the Tion for a whale — given that the ship’s route followed the migratory patterns of whales the sharks prey upon. The sailors add that while they were prepared for the possibility of punctures, they weren’t expecting sharks to attack the Tion repeatedly and in such high numbers.

The catamaran had reportedly suffered shark attacks off the coast of Tahiti in June, but the sailors managed to patch her up and keep her afloat. The Tion is the second vessel ferrying the crew on their attempt to sail around the world, having first embarked on the journey aboard a trimaran on July 1, 2021.

The crew, comprising two Russian and one French sailor, were trying to set a record for “the longest cruising distance covered on a frame-inflatable sailing trimaran,” but they abandoned their original vessel off the coast of Chile in March, as the Independent   reports. The Tion was their replacement craft, but it’s both unclear and unlikely that it will be recovered.

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3 Men Rescued from Coral Sea After ‘Several Shark Attacks’ Damage Their Inflatable Catamaran

The trio were rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning, over 500 miles off the coast of Australia

Three men have been rescued from the Coral Sea after "several shark attacks" damaged their inflatable catamaran.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority confirmed in a media release that both hulls of the 30-foot catamaran had been damaged following the attacks more than 500 miles off the Australian coast.

The three men, who were traveling to the Cairns in the far north of Queensland, were rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The boat’s emergency distress beacon sent out a call at 1:30 a.m. local time. 

russian.ocean.way Instagram

A video posted on the AMSA’s official Twitter, now known as X, shared footage of the search and rescue effort. “Remember to always bring a registered beacon with you when you're out on the water - it could help save your life,” the tweet accompanying the clip read. 

“AMSA requested the assistance of Panama-flagged vehicle carrier Dugong Ace and tasked the Cairns-based Challenger Rescue Aircraft to the scene. Dugong Ace successfully conducted the rescue and collected three people,” the release added.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority via AP

According to NBC News , the men had set off from the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Aug. 28 on the latest stage of an around-the-world trip.

Per the outlet, the sailors, aged between 28 and 64, are said to be unharmed. Their belongings were also saved, but the catamaran was lost.

The trio, two Russians and one Frenchman, are due to arrive in Brisbane, Australia on Thursday morning, the release said. 

Joe Zeller, a senior manager at AMSA, said in a video statement that the catamaran had “large sections of its hull missing,” reported CNN ,  

"An emergency beacon absolutely saved their lives," he continued. “There are many reasons vessels are attacked by sharks but the motivations of these sharks is unclear.”

Zeller added that the men were “very happy” to be rescued. 

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Per the voyage’s Instagram account @russian.ocean.way , the three men onboard were Evgeny Kovalevsky, Stanislav Berezkin and Vincent Thomas Etienne.

According to one post, their vessel was first attacked by sharks on Monday and began to sink on Tuesday.

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Stanislav Berezkin (left), Evgeny Kovalevskiy (centre) and Vincent Bauge at Mooloolaba, Queensland. ( ABC Sunshine Coast: Meg Bolton )

The Russian and French crew of an inflatable catamaran sunk by sharks in the Coral Sea are thankful to have reached dry land after a dramatic rescue and several weeks at sea.

Key points:

• The three sailors from the Tion-Russian Ocean Way say they will continue their circumnavigation attempt
• They have now lost two boats since they left Russia in July 2021
• The sailors say they only recently learned of the danger of cookie-cutter sharks

The 9-metre Tion-Russian Ocean Way was deflated on Wednesday morning  by cookie-cutter sharks during a Russian Geographical Society circumnavigation attempt to honour the country's great navigators.

The sailors were cleared by customs in Mooloolaba this morning.

Expeditioner Evgeny Kovalevskiy estimated "tens of sharks" were biting the boat before it was punctured.

The sponsons – the inflatable catamaran hulls — have four separate chambers inside to ensure the craft stays afloat if one or more is punctured.

"We see that air is less and less," Mr Kovalevskiy said.

The stern chambers on the port-side sponson were the first to deflate, rendering one of the two rudders useless.

"But when they attack the right balloon, it was finished — and we try to sink like the Titanic,"   Mr Kovalevskiy said

The crew of the Tion-Russian Ocean Way step onto dry land at Mooloolaba. ( ABC Sunshine Coast: Meg Bolton )

The catamaran cutters

Mr Kovalevskiy said the crew became aware of the cookie-cutter sharks hazard only recently.

On the Atlantic Ocean much earlier in the expedition they had a satellite phone with the society in Russia about the mysterious circular bites appearing in their boat.

"They attack whales, dolphins and big tuna," Mr Kovalevskiy.

"When the inflatable boat is moving it vibrates, like a whale vibration, and the sharks, they're feeling this vibration and attack in the deep night, usually, from 2,000 meters deep.

"When we were crossing French Polynesia's many islands there were many shark attacks."

The crew repaired about 20 bite marks in French Polynesia, none of which had penetrated the hull.

"We actually don't feel the bump because our weight is two tonnes and the shark is very small," Mr Kovalevskiy said.

"Before this, nobody knows that inflatable boats could be attacked by sharks."

Amanda Hay says cookie-cutter sharks leave perfectly circular wounds on their victims. ( Supplied: Australian Museum )

Australian Museum Ichthyology collection manager Amanda Hay said the cookie-cutter shark was an opportunistic parasite.

"If you ever see a whale or a dolphin washed up on the beach, you'll see little perfectly round-shaped plugs taken out of the flesh, and that's due to the cookie-cutter shark," she said.

"They've got fleshy lips and the top teeth are really short and fine and sharp.

"The bottom teeth are much more broadly triangulated and overlap.

"They latch on with the front teeth and form a suction with the lips, and then they swirl around and take a perfectly round cookie shape … out of their victim."

The Tion-Russian Ocean Way leaving Vanua Levu, Fiji, in happier times. ( Supplied )

'We are absolutely normal'

The sailors were aiming to set a Guinness World Record for circumnavigation by inflatable boat — a feat as yet unrecorded.

"When you live real life, this looks unusual and people say, 'Oh you're crazy'," Mr Kovalevskiy said.

"You have to realise your destination.

"If the Creator sent you an opportunity to be scientists, you should be scientists.

"If He told you that you should be an artist, you should be an artist.

"If you are an artist and you feel like you're like an engineer, you're crazy.

"We are absolutely normal.

"It was very important that we repeat the way that 200 years ago the first Russian circumnavigators made."

The voyage of the Russian Ocean Way expedition. ( Supplied: Russian Ocean Way )

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Three sailors rescued from shark-bitten catamaran off Australia

Officials said sharks attacked the inflatable catamaran and tore off large chunks of the vessel’s hull.

Three men on board a catamaran off the northeastern coast of Australia have been rescued after sharks tore off sections from the hull of their inflatable vessel, according to officials.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the three sailors – two Russian and one French citizen – were rescued early on Wednesday.

They were picked up by a Panama-flagged vehicle carrier – the Dugong Ace – while floating in the Coral Sea, some 835km (519 miles) southeast of Cairns in Australia.

Satellite photos and a video on the AMSA website showed a large part of the stern of the nine-metre (30-foot) yacht torn away.

“Both hulls of the vessel have been damaged following several shark attacks,” AMSA said in a statement.

The authority said the sailors, aged between 28 and 64, had planned to sail from the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu to Cairns, a distance of more than 2,000km (1,200 miles). They activated an emergency distress beacon in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The three sailors are due to arrive in Brisbane on Thursday, AMSA said.

“There’s many reasons why vessels are attacked by sharks. However, the motivations of these sharks are unclear,” said Joe Zeller, the acting manager of the AMSA Response Centre. The three sailors “were very happy to be rescued and they are all healthy and well and aboard the Dugong Ace,” he added.

The Coral Sea where the men were found is brimming with reef sharks.

According to the Australian government, it is home to more sharks “than almost any other survey site in the world”.

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Sailors rescued from an inflatable catamaran damaged by sharks talk about their ordeal.

Three men on board an inflatable catamaran, who were rescued after the boat was damaged by several shark attacks off the northeast coast of Australia, have spoken about what happened. Sept. 7, 2023

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3 people had to be rescued from their 30-foot inflatable catamaran after sharks attacked the boat, officials say

• Three people were rescued from their inflatable vessel after sharks attacked its hull, officials said.
• The trio were around 510 miles off Australia's northeastern coast, according to rescue authorities.
• When found, the 30-foot catamaran was missing large portions of its hull, rescuers reported.

Three men on board an inflatable catamaran were rescued off Australia's northeastern coast on Wednesday after their vessel was attacked several times by sharks.

The trio — two Russians and one French citizen — were about 510 miles from shore when Australian authorities picked up their distress alert in the early morning, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement.

The Russian vessel had departed from the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu and was heading to the city of Cairns in Queensland, the AMSA said.

Both hulls of their 30-foot catamaran "have been damaged following several shark attacks," authorities added.

Officials said they asked a nearby Panama-flagged ship, the Dugong Ace, to help rescue the three people. A Challenger rescue aircraft was also sent to assist from Cairns.

When found, the catamaran had "large sections of its hull missing," AMSA Response Centre manager Joe Zeller said.

Related stories

"There's many reasons that vessels are attacked by sharks. However, the motivations of these sharks is unclear," Zeller said. 

Footage shot by a Challenger rescue plane shows the state of the vessel when rescuers arrived.

—Matthew Loh (@ma2loh) September 6, 2023

The three sailors are aged between 28 and 64, in healthy condition, and on board the Dugong Ace on their way to Brisbane, Zeller said. Their full trip would likely have taken between two to three weeks, he said.

"The emergency beacon absolutely saved their lives," Zeller added. "It enabled the rescue coordination center to identify their precise location and empower the most appropriate and quickest response to rescue them."

The trio are expected to arrive in Brisbane on Thursday, the AMSA said in its statement.

Sharks and orcas have been making headlines this summer amid a rising number of reports documenting attacks on vessels . But it's still unclear what causes these encounters , or if they are related at all.

Watch: Deep-sea explorers discovered creatures at the bottom of the ocean feasting on decaying whales

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SharkBite Wiki

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• 1 Description

Description

Featuring two parallel hulls the signature feature of catamarans this makes this boat near impossible to flip with its wide base. The boat sports a sail and a total of 7 seats all with an open rear allowing for heavy fire on the shark whenever it is in pursuit. This vessel has high durability and surprisingly good speed. This ship has stairs at the rear for easy access.

Pros and Cons

• Decent speed allow it to escape sharks if well-maneuvered
• Decent handling combined with the speed makes evading the shark surprisingly easy
• High durability allows this boat to survive an attack and still function
• When destroyed it leaves a lot of debris making it hard for the shark find the players
• The seats in the ship are angled outwards which allows all the players to get a good firing position without blocking the other players guns.
• Incredibly stable, never bounces on the water and never tilts when turning due to its double hull and wide area, making shooting and driving very smooth.
• Near impossible to capsize good amount of seats large platform for people to stand on even if the seats are full
• Very cheap.
• When destroyed by the shark, the player can find the roof of the cockpit and stand on it. Unlike other broken parts of boats, it does not wobble easily and you can hide on it, because of the sail.
• Speed slow compared to other larger vessels excluding the Yacht.
• The sails and large size of this boat makes it highly visible compared to other smaller boats.

• 1 Stealth Boat
• 2 Hydro Tank

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SharkBite Classic : Catamaran

Sharkbite classic, page actions.

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The Catamaran is one of the better early boats available in the game, only costing 120 teeth with a decent speed and handling making it fairly good at running from sharks.

• 1 Description

Description [ edit | hide all | hide | edit source ]

Featuring two parallel hulls the signature feature of catamarans this makes this boat near impossible to flip with its wide base. The boat sports a sail and a total of 7 seats all with an open rear allowing for heavy fire on the shark whenever it is in pursuit. This vessel has high durability and surprisingly good speed. This ship has stairs at the rear for easy access.

Pros and Cons [ edit | hide | edit source ]

Pros [ edit | hide | edit source ].

• Decent speed allow it to escape sharks if well-maneuvered
• Decent handling combined with the speed makes evading the shark surprisingly easy
• High durability allows this boat to survive an attack and still function
• When destroyed it leaves a lot of debris making it hard for the shark find the players
• The seats in the ship are angled outwards which allows all the players to get a good firing position without blocking the other players guns.
• Incredibly stable, never bounces on the water and never tilts when turning due to its double hull and wide area, making shooting and driving very smooth.
• Near impossible to capsize good amount of seats large platform for people to stand on even if the seats are full
• Very cheap.
• When destroyed by the shark, the player can find the roof of the cockpit and stand on it. Unlike other broken parts of boats, it does not wobble easily and you can hide on it, because of the sail.

Cons [ edit | hide | edit source ]

• Speed slow compared to other larger vessels excluding the Yacht.
• The sails and large size of this boat makes it highly visible compared to other smaller boats.

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Shark bite? How experts identify bites from sharks, toothy creatures, barracuda, bluefish

How can you tell what type of shark bite experts study teeth marks, shapes, puncture wounds, and if there's a distinctive crescent pattern..

It's rare, but a trip to the beach in Florida can end up with a shark bite − or a bite from a toothy sea creature.

When this happens, people are likely to ask, "what bit you ?" Specifically, they're fishing for details on what kind of shark bite caused the wound on a leg, foot, arm, hand or other body part.

In rare tragic incidents like the one on Friday, June, 7, 2024 at Rosemary Beach in Walton County, Florida, a 15-year-old girl was one of three people attacked by sharks in two hours. The girl's mother said on a platform for hospital patients that the teen's left hand was bitten off and a leg had to be amputated.

What does a shark bite look like? It depends. Sometimes, you can see the arch of teeth marks on a shark bite victim's leg. Other times, after scarring, it's a subtle mark.

How do experts determine what type of toothy sea creature took a bite out of flesh? Here's what we know.

Where do most shark bites happen? Is Florida the shark bite capital of the world?

According to the  International Shark Attack File , Volusia County is known as the "shark bite capital of the world." Volusia County leads the state with 351 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks from 1882 to the present (June 2024). Brevard ranks second with 158, followed by Palm Beach County with 83. The attack file also lists Florida as the world location with highest attack rates.

Bear vs. alligators: Unique video shows Florida predators battling it out while swimming in a river

What types of sharks are involved in shark bites in Florida?

According to the International Shack Attack file, these species are involved with unprovoked shark attacks in Florida:

• Blacktip shark
• Sandbar shark
• Hammerhead shark
• Lemon shark
• Nurse shark
• Requiem spp. (blacktip, spinner or sandbar sharks)
• Tiger shark
• Spinner shark

How can you tell what type of shark bite? When is it not a shark bite, but a bite from a toothy sea creature?

Sharks inhabiting our beaches are each identifiable to experts by distinct teeth markings and shapes. Typically, shark bites have a distinctive crescent pattern of cuts or puncture wounds.

Some fish attacks, like those of a barracuda or bluefish, have occasionally been misidentified as shark bites. Distinct features of the wound can help experts distinguish a shark from another creature  and  determine the species and size.

Bites from a barracuda or bluefish appear as a slicing laceration, Dr. Grant Gilmore, senior scientist for  Estuarine, Coastal and Ocean Science  in Vero Beach, said in a July 30, 2019, FLORIDA TODAY story . A bluefish bite is distinct in its small, cutting wounds.

Here are some of the most common culprits and the gnarly evidence they leave behind. (This roundup of sharks and shark bites came from the July 2019 FLORIDA TODAY story .)

Blacktip shark:  The most common bite on the east Central Florida coast comes from a shark that’s pretty easy to spot. The blacktip shark has a bite distinct in its numerous small teeth punctures, which differ from a bluefish's cutting wounds. The creature — its protruding fin a vision of its namesake — likes to linger about 100 to 200 feet from shore and forage on small fish.

Nurse shark:  With tiny teeth used to crush their prey, nurse sharks also gobble on small fish, including lobster. The nurse shark's small, turf-like teeth wouldn't produce a cutting wound, but the creature has been reported to attack humans if provoked.

Sand tiger shark:  Sand tiger sharks also feed on small fish, using their pointed, fish-hook-like teeth to hold and swallow their prey whole. They are not a dangerous shark, even though it looks like it would be. A bite from a sand tiger shark, which is uncommon, would produce small puncture wounds from the top and bottom jaw.

Bull shark:  Known to be more aggressive, the bull shark has a jaw distinct in its broad, cutting upper teeth and pointed lower teeth. That is for holding prey ... coming down and cutting. If this shark bit someone, it would produce puncture wounds on one side of the bite, cutting on the other.

Tiger shark:  Sharp, cutting teeth, similar to those of a bluefish, but bigger, characterize the tiger shark. Their wide jaws allow them to eat sea turtles, which are more abundant on the Treasure Coast than any other area in the western hemisphere. Tiger sharks can grow to 18 feet and weigh up to 2,000 pounds. They are responsible for most attacks on humans off Hawaii. Their unique jaw produces cutting wounds on the upper and lower portion of the bite. A bite by a tiger shark is also distinguishable in its saw-like appearance. Once it has latched onto its prey, a tiger shark shakes its head back and forth.

What does a shark bite look like? What does a shark bite scar look like?

Below is a photo gallery with images that show the might of sharks and the marks they leave behind. WARNING: Some of the shark bite photos are graphic.

Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her on  Twitter  or Instagram at  @byjensangalang . Support local journalism.  Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper .