Save articles for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
The mother of one of the missing Indonesian fishermen whose boat was destroyed by Cyclone Ilsa when it crashed into the Western Australian coast is praying that he is found alive.
Eleven of the crew made it to Bedwell Island off the coast of Broome where they spent six days stranded without food or water.
Nine others are still missing – and their families back in Indonesia are in the dark as to the fate of their loved ones.
Among the missing crew members is 26-year-old Yamin Puling, whose mother Kusmawati Lobang is desperate for news about her son.
“She feeling so sad and heartbroken,” she said through Shinta Ardani, a high school friend of the missing man who is from the village of Papela on Rote Island, which is located south-west of Timor.
When Nine News showed Kusmawati Lobang images of the survivors she could not see her son among them.
“People in the village are shocked right now,” said Shinta Ardani.
Yamin Pulling was one of twenty fishermen crewing two boats which were caught in the path of Isla late last week as it headed to the Pilbara/Kimberly coast and developed into a category 5 cyclone with record-breaking winds.
One vessel sank in the extreme conditions, while the other managed to save one of the men and make it to Bedwell Islandm, 313 kilometres west of Broome.
The survivors were spotted by an Australian Border Force aircraft and, on Monday afternoon, picked up by the PHI International rescue helicopter.
“It was like a scene out of Castaway,” said Wayne Thompson, one of the rescue crew who used night vision cameras to spot the stranded fishermen.
The survivors are now being held in a detention facility in Darwin before being flown back to their home village in Indonesia.
Zarisha Bradley is a reporter for Nine News Perth.
Most Viewed in National
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article
