One of the four school leavers who were swept more than 20km across Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay has described the group’s harrowing night-long ordeal.
Glen Waverley teen Rong Shi said his friends did not initially panic when they began to be pushed out from shore by strong winds at Rosebud Beach on Monday evening but soon realised they would have to survive a freezing night on the water.
Mr Shi, 18, told ABC News his friends, two 18-year-old men and a 19-year-old woman, tried desperately to flag down passing boats and helicopters searching for them overhead as they drifted across the bay.
“It was all right initially, but suddenly there was a wind that was keeping us away from the beach, and we somehow just got really further away from the beach,” Mr Shi said.
“We were actually a little bit scared, but we couldn’t get back, so we just started calling passing boats, but no one notified us, so we just kept moving.
“We could see the helicopters and the boats searching for us, the helicopters got really close to us but they didn’t find us.”
He said the group decided to tie their two boards together and float through the night, opting to conserve their energy.
“That’s all we had to do – keep our energy, stay warm – it was really cold out there.
“It feels like a dream to me, I can’t believe we made it. If you look back, it’s really a miracle.”
Mornington Peninsula deputy chief lifeguard Sean Cummins told Nine’s Today show that it was a “weight off the shoulders” to hear the teens had been found at Swan Island, more than 20km away, following the frantic Monday-night search.
“It’s quite amazing – that probably turned to a bit of a shock … it’s also a pretty good reminder of how careful you have to be around beaches swimming,” Mr Cummins said.
Conditions could change very quickly and people should try to swim within their limitations and ask locals for safety tips when visiting beaches this summer, he said.
“It’s always the same message we promote every Christmas, we want people going home safely to their families,” Mr Cummins said.
Three of the four teens have been released from Geelong Hospital, while one remains under observation on Wednesday morning.
Mr Shi said he wanted to “thank everyone” for the work getting the four friends back to safety.
“Thanks to the police, the ambulance, everyone that was helping us out,” he told ABC News.
Also the taxpayers so we could get helicopters searching for us,” he said with a smile.
“That really gave us hope.”
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