Three Louisiana men had a terrifying experience, stranded in a sinking boat for 28 hours in waters that are home to sharks.
Phong Le headed out from the Delta Marina in Empire, to the Gulf of Mexico to fish red snapper, with his friends, Son and Luan Nguyen on Saturday. They started having engine problems about 25 miles offshore, and their boat started to take on water. They had to make a distress call via radio to the local Coast Guard. By the time they finished calling in the emergency, their boat was already sinking halfway into the water.
They were able to keep afloat by tying two ice chests together and managed to get through the night with some water and fruit in the ice chest.
The night was scary enough, in the darkness, but they survived it. The morning brought new dangers, when a shark suddenly emerged and bit a life vest that was on the boat. Luan Nguyen says he punched the shark and jabbed it with his fingers and it swam away, while Phong Le swam to get help. Phong Le said he had his phone on him but the battery was dying. He managed to find reception and messaged a friend about the situation, but then the phone went dead.
A couple of hours later, the Coast Guard came to help with a helicopter, after doing a search over a large area. The men had been reported missing on Sunday when they didn’t return to the marina.
The fishermen were transported to a hospital and treated for minor injuries.
Various parts of the harrowing adventure were caught on video.
The group of friends is not planning any fishing trips any time soon.