Sharks Tear Apart Inflatable 30ft Expedition Boat, 3 Crew "Lucky" to Be Alive
It was like a scene out of "Jaws."
![A,Predator,Great,White,Shark,Swimming,In,The,Ocean,Coral](https://newsfulonline.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/09/shutterstock_1683088564.jpg?quality=82&strip=1&resize=640%2C360)
The movie Jaws is an exaggerated tale of man versus shark. In the classic Steven Spielberg film, an enormous Great White Shark terrorizes a summer beach community, killing everyone from little kids to fishermen. Eventually, a group of men board a boat and head into the open waters to hunt the larger killer, who ends up tearing the boat to shreds and killing many of those on board. This week, a group of three men learned the hard way that Jaws should serve as a cautionary tale after their 30-foot boat was torn apart by a group of sharks.
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Three sailors from Russia and France were out in an inflatable catamaran sailing from Vanuatu to Australia. However, they were attacked by sharks.
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The Australian Maritime Safety Authority writes that they responded to an alert from an emergency beacon at about 1:30 a.m. Rescuers arrived at the scene, which was more than 500 miles east of the Australian coast in the Coral Sea.
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In the middle of the ocean, they found both hulls of the men's 9-meter boat severely damaged after multiple shark attacks.
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A Panamanian-flagged ship, the vehicle-carrying "Dugong Ace," aided in the rescue, bringing the two Russians and one Frenchman aboard.
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"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.
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If the men didn't have a GPS system, they probably wouldn't have been saved. "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."
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While there were many reasons why a shark may attack a boat, "the motivations of these sharks is unclear," Zeller said.
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There were multiple aerial photos shared depicting major damage to the catamaran.
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All healthy and unharmed men are expected to return to Australia on Thursday. The journey from Vanuatu to Australia generally takes two to three weeks.