An Australian fisherman has survived a chilling overboard ordeal after he was knocked off his boat by a rogue wave into shark-infested waters without a life jacket.
As Nine News is reporting, Andrew Wilson was thrown overboard while his boat's engine was still running, leaving the 25-year-old angler stranded without any safety devices. He was then forced to make the 4.7-mile swim to shore through strong currents, and has claimed he bumped into a shark and was knocked against rocks throughout his eight-hour ordeal, which is now being hailed as a miracle.
Wilson, a native of Tweed Heads, said he made it back to shore through a combination of "adrenalin and just sheer determination," and thought often of his fiancee and food. "I was starving, so I was looking forward to getting home and having a feed," he said. "I thought I'd be able to stop and be able to float and get some energy back, but if I stopped for 30 seconds it would take me straight back out to sea...there was only going to be one outcome. I wasn't going to stop, so I just kept going."
According to the Telegraph, authorities realized the fisherman was missing when someone spotted his unmanned boat with the engine still running off Fingal Beach on the coast of northern New South Wales. Though a major air and sea search was launched, there was no sign of the man until he managed to make it to land, clamber over rocks and knock on a stranger's door for help. The Associated Press is reporting that Wilson has since been treated at a hospital and released.