Australian treads water for six hours in shark-infested area after fish drags him overboard

SYDNEY // A man survived for hours in cold, shark-infested waters after being dragged out of his boat as he struggled to land a large fish in Australia.

The man, believed to be in his 20s, was fishing alone on Tuesday about 30 nautical miles off Western Australia when he hooked a marlin — a game fish that can weigh more than 400 kilograms.

It pulled him overboard after being hooked and his boat drifted away, leaving him treading water for six hours in the shark-infested area.

A fellow fisherman spotted the empty boat and alerted authorities.

Rusty Ellis, the commander of the Exmouth volunteer marine rescue group, said the man was “extremely lucky” to be found in such a remote area.

“He was just one tiny little head bobbing in the ocean,” he said. The fisherman was treated for hypothermia.

Mr Ellis added that Tuesday’s rescue highlighted the need for anglers to take proper safety precautions when fishing off Australia’s west coast, with two lone fisherman lost to the seas near the same area last year.

* Agence France-Presse