Three fishermen were attacked by sharks after their boat sank and they were stranded in the Gulf of Mexico for over 24 hours

Three fishermen were saved by the US Coast Guard after their boat sank and they were stranded about 25 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico while sharks bit them.

The three men launched a 24-foot boat early Saturday, but by 10 a.m. the boat had engine problems and began to sink. This paralyzed their sources of communication.

Family members were concerned they hadn’t heard from the men, so they called the Coast Guard. They quickly organized a search but found it to be a daunting task given the large area they had to cover.

A turning point in the case came when the mobile phone of one of the boat drivers suddenly got reception. The man was able to shoot down a text message asking for help.

“Hey my boat sank I’m swimming in the middle of the gulf,” the text read, according to one rescuer.

When they were found, they were all suffering from hypothermia.

Rescuers said they saw four sharks circling the men and there was evidence of bites on their hands and a life jacket torn by the sharks.

Luan Nguyen spoken to WWL-TV about the ordeal.

“The headboard was in front of me and out of nowhere the shark bit into the vest. So I pushed the shark and then tried to poke its nose,” Nguyen said over the phone.

The three men were lifted from the air by a Jayhawk helicopter around 1 p.m. Sunday and taken to a local hospital.

“We searched an area roughly the size of Rhode Island and are grateful to have found these missing boaters,” said Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Keefe, coordinator of a rescue mission. “If the family member had not notified the Coast Guard and these three boaters were not wearing life jackets, this could have been a very different outcome.”

After being rescued, the three men hugged and then promptly fell asleep from exhaustion.

One of the men’s family members is the owner of the Olive Branch Cafe and offered free meals to Coast Guard members for the remainder of the week in gratitude.

Here is more about the shocking incident:

New details on Coast Guard rescue of boaters from shark-infested waters

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