Eight Indonesian fishermen feared dead

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Eight Indonesian fishermen are feared drowned and another 11 have been rescued after spending almost a week without food or water on a barren island off the northwest Australian coast in the wake of a powerful tropical cyclone, authorities said Wednesday.

Two primitive wooden Indonesian fishing boats were caught in the path of Cyclone Ilsa, which made landfall Friday as Australia’s most powerful storm in eight years, with winds gusting at an apparent record of 180 miles per hour.

One of the boats, Putri Jaya, sank in “extreme weather conditions” early on April 12 while Ilsa was gathering strength over the Indian Ocean and heading toward the coast, Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement, citing survivors.

The other boat, Express 1, ran aground with 10 men aboard around the same time on Bedwell Island, a sandy outcrop some 200 miles west of the Australian coastal tourist town of Broome, the authority said. The only known survivor from the Putri Jaya spent 30 hours floating in the water tied to a fuel can for buoyancy before swimming to the same island, officials said.

The authority said the 11 survivors had spent for six days on the island without food and water before being rescued on Monday night.

The authority clarified in a later statement that the Putri Jaya survivor reached the island a day later than the rest.

The fishermen live in the East Nusa Tenggara province in the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago.

The survivors were spotted Monday by the Australian Border Force, which patrols Australia’s northern approaches for smuggling and other illegal activity, from a plane on a routine surveillance mission.