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Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 84,397
Marty Offline OP
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this is amazing....

[Linked Image] [Linked Image] How do you survive 25 days at sea with nothing but the giant icebox you are floating in? By drinking rainwater and eating fish vomited up by seabirds, apparently.
That is the amazing tale of two Burmese fishermen who were found floating in shark-infested waters off the far North Coast of Australia in a large cooler box.

Ko Ko Oo, 22, and Haung Htaik, 24, were discovered by Australian customs officials floating in the orange-and-white cooler in the Timor Sea, about 60 nautical miles from Thursday Island, northwest of Darwin on the far north central coast of Australia, at the weekend. They said that they had been adrift since December 23 when their wooden fishing boat sank and 18 fellow crew members from Thailand and Burma drowned.

They appeared in remarkably good health considering their ordeal, during which they are said to have survived on nothing but rainwater and a few tiny fish.

Photographs taken from rescue aircraft show the bare-chested pair standing in the tall-sided cooler box waving their T-shirts in a desperate attempt to be seen. "They had no safety equipment, no beacons, no means of communication and they'd been drifting for 25 days," said Tracey Jiggins, of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. "For them to have even been spotted in a huge body of water is amazing."

Mr Oo, receiving treatment for dehydration and skin complaints at a hospital on Thursday Island, told an Australian journalist that the only food they consumed was several days after the sinking.

"For ten days, nothing to eat," Mr Oo said through an interpreter. "Then two big seabirds came and vomited some small fish - about six or seven little fish, and that's all." Terry Gadenne, the helicopter pilot who rescued the men, said he was stunned that they had lived to tell the tale. "They were dehydrated, there's no doubt about it, and very keen to get out," he said. "I think they were fairly desperate. The week before was really rough, strong winds feeding into the cyclone in the gulf and a lot of heavy rain. In the days just prior to the rescue it was fairly hot with some isolated thunderstorms."

Cyclone Charlotte had been active in the region as the pair were adrift, with gusts of up to 45 mph, but it may have brought heavy rain and fresh water that kept the men alive. At other times they would have had daytime temperatures of more than 30C (86F).

The tale of survival stunned some locals, who were amazed that the pair showed no apparent signs of skin chafing, sunburn or other effects associated with long-term exposure at sea.

An Australian Immigration Department spokesman said that the pair would be questioned. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it had no reason to doubt the story and the rest of the crew would almost certainly have perished. No search for survivors is planned. It is believed that the boat left Thailand with Burmese and Thai crew members.


Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 700
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WOW!!
Just think of all the Belikins you could ice down in that cooler.

Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,094
D
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D
Now that's something to talk about, if it's true.

Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,157
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Enlighten me Danny: why would you qualify your statement with "if its true?"

This cannot be some part of a great Bush conspiracy...... if anything I thought you may give credit for Obama's first miracle smile


It's rarely rocket science, it's usually just math: then again if you can't do the math.......
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,294
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Wow! I like stories of survival, like this. Although very sad to hear about the other 18. And isn't that something- to hear about the two seaguls and the food they dumped. That's when it's nearly impossible to think that there is not some higher being out there.

Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,157
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To birds from above they may well have looked like chicks in a nest: was it a higher power of was it natural instinct......

I suspect how each of us answers may vary dependent on personal faith or beliefs?


It's rarely rocket science, it's usually just math: then again if you can't do the math.......
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,740
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I think it was penance for the actions of their feathered brotheren in taking down the plane in NY.

Joined: May 2008
Posts: 890
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Originally Posted by pugwash
Enlighten me Danny: why would you qualify your statement with "if its true?"

This cannot be some part of a great Bush conspiracy...... if anything I thought you may give credit for Obama's first miracle smile


Now that the new age of miracles and unicorns and money magically appearing in all our bank accounts has arrived, I am feeling generous enough to agree with Danny this one time. I cannot willfully suspend my disbelief in this story. My inate cynicism remains albeit tempered by a healthy dose of hopenchange. Although we are 1 day in and I don't see any change. Left with hope I guess. Which is what I have for the reporters on this "story", that is I hope they don't decide it's too good not to check out. Oh wait, incuriousness is inate in them these days. Never mind.


I hope that someday we can put aside our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people.
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,094
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D

This is why I'm skeptical,


The tale of survival stunned some locals, who were amazed that the pair showed no apparent signs of skin chafing, sunburn or other effects associated with long-term exposure at sea.

Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,925
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things that make you go "hmmm", I dunno about this one, that cooler looks a little top heavy to keep them afloat that long, 45kt winds, trop cyclone, 10 to 30 ft seas, maybe they were kicked off there vessel a couple of days before hand for whatever reason, and is that a red flag they are waving?
this story might be true, but I believe there is more to it.


Reality..What a concept!
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