Torres Strait rescue: Fishermen praise God and Parramatta Eels for survival

A Torres Strait man rescued from shark-infested waters has told the gripping tale of how faith, fortune and a Parramatta Eels cap saved him and his uncle from certain death.

A TORRES Strait man rescued from shark-infested waters has told the gripping tale of how faith, fortune and a Parramatta Eels cap saved him and his uncle from certain death.

Lui Tommy Billy, 37, and Abisolmon Bob, 47, had been clinging to a piece of plywood for 16 hours when they were spotted by the crew of passing oil tanker MT Godam and pulled to safety on Thursday.

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The men are now on Thursday Island, waiting to get back home, and thanking a higher power for their second chance at life.

The miraculous ordeal began on Wednesday morning when the fishing partners set off in a banana boat to dive for crayfish about 22 nautical miles southeast of their home, Warraber Island.

Torres Strait man Abisolmon Bob, 47, and his nephew Lui Tommy Billy, 37, were rescued by an oil tanker after their banana boat sunk while fishing. PICTURE: SUPPLIED

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It was a calm day with five-knot winds, and Mr Billy told mates back on shore to expect them home by 4pm — although he neglected to say where they would be fishing.

He was using his mobile phone to keep an eye on the time and their GPS location, and decided to start the trip back as 4pm drew near.

They fired up the glorified canoe’s 50-horsepower, two-stroke engine and began putting away — but the wind was now at 15 knots with three-metre waves crashing.

“The longboats are very hard to run down-sea, so we have to be careful about where we drive the boat down,” Mr Billy explained.

“Most of the weight was in the front but I could see the nose of the boat was pretty much on an angle – so I thought it would be OK.”

The rescue helicopter hovering over the MT Godam in the Torres Strait. Picture: Ritesh Dhamaria

The pair were bobbing along about four nautical miles off Poll Island — a little stepping stone en route to Warraber that forms one-third of the Three Sisters island family — when that assessment proved flawed.

“The nose went straight into the next wave. The wave came into the front and into the boat, and in a split second, the boat was underwater,” Mr Billy said.

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A buoy was keeping the boat’s nose elevated but the vessel was a goner, and the pair knew they would be too unless they acted quickly.

Mr Billy shoved his phone into his wetsuit while the rest of his belongings, including his prescription glasses, floated adrift.

Rescuers work to save two Torres Strait men whose banana boat fishing vessel sunk in treacherous waters. Workers on the oil tanker watch on as the rescue unfolds. PICTURE: SUPPLIED

All they could cling to was a piece of 9mm plywood, about 3m long and 2m wide.

“My uncle told me we couldn’t stay any longer on the boat or the current would take us to God knows where,” Mr Billy recalled.

“He told me we had to get onto this board and swim to Poll Island.

“I didn’t think we would make it — we could hardly see the bush.

“But I agreed with Uncle and said OK, let’s do it, this is the only way.”

The duo had fished those waters “a million times” and were in the channel where the “big ships” run, but whether one would come in time to save them was anyone’s guess.

One of the survivors being winched onto the rescue helicopter from the MT Godam in the Torres Strait. Picture: Ritesh Dhamaria

They never made it to Poll Island, but kept paddling and paddling into the night, searching for the island’s few lights where the black ocean met the moonlit sky.

They wound up far from their intended destination and changed tack to try reach a lighthouse on Twin Island.

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Their only weapons were human grit, a plank of wood and belief in a higher power.

“As soon as we hit the water, the first thing that came to my mind was to pray,” Mr Billy said.

“We had to pray through the night but our doubt was gone – I wasn’t afraid.”

Torres Strait man Lui Tommy Billy, 37, (pictured) and his uncle Abisolmon Bob, 47, were rescued by an oil tanker after their banana boat sunk while fishing. PICTURE: SUPPLIED

They kept kicking as exhaustion set in, mindful not to thrash so hard they attracted sharks.

They never made it to the lighthouse but kept up their divine entreaties.

“We were praying together, as loud as we could, trying to pull God down to us. That was the only thing on my mind,” Mr Billy said.

There was a point when doubt set in and Mr Billy questioned how much longer he could go on.

AMSA Challenger footage of the MT Godam in the Torres Strait.

“When the doubt came to me, a voice clearly came to me and said don’t give up on me because I didn’t give up on you,” he said.

“I said that is definitely God. In that same split second, I gained strength, I kept on paddling, and I said, Uncle, we will never give up.”

Something else was there too — an uninvited dinner guest that fancied the plywood platter.

It was about 3am when Mr Bob saw something on the water’s surface and thought Twin Island was in sight.

It was a shark’s fin, only a metre away.

They scrambled onto the board and were called to the heavens for salvation when they spotted a ship coming directly for them.

A decision was made to jump in with the shark and paddle out of the ship’s path.

Then Mr Billy jumped up and hollered at full volume.

Torres Strait man Lui Tommy Billy, 37, (pictured) and his uncle Abisolmon Bob, 47, were rescued by an oil tanker after their banana boat sunk while fishing. PICTURE: SUPPLIED

“I kept my Parramatta Eels hat on my head all night. I took it off and waved it at the ship. That hat saved our lives,” he said.

The tanker sailed past this bone-tired pair, barely visible in the crashing white-top waves, and they thought their hopes were finally dashed.

Then … HOOOOO!

The horn blew a mighty roar and the ship turned towards the damned fishermen.

“I turned to Uncle and said, ‘That’s God’. I know that God turned that ship,” Mr Billy recounted.

The trouble was not over.

Crew members cast out a lifebuoy on a rope and were screaming their lungs raw, telling the men to swim to the ring as several sharks circled.

MT Godam pilot Ritesh Dhamaria with the survivors.

Their first attempt to direct the plywood — thus far their only life preservation device — towards the buoy was a failure, and the ship had to double back for a second attempt.

“I yelled to Uncle and said let’s push this board away and swim now, now is the time to swim,” Mr Billy said.

“When I opened my eyes, I could see a hammerhead shark just metres away.”

They kicked and splashed, churning freestyle until they finally grabbed the ring and were pulled to the ship’s stern.

A helicopter searching the area had been alerted to their location and a rescuer shimmied down a rope, latched onto Mr Billy and winched him into the sky.

Torres Strait man Abisolmon Bob, 47, (pictured) and his nephew Lui Tommy Billy, 37, were rescued by an oil tanker after their banana boat sunk while fishing. PICTURE: SUPPLIED

Mr Bob was pulled into the ship before being lifted to the chopper, and the pair were transferred to Thursday Island Hospital.

“A voice came to me and said God has taken us on this journey to experience his power,” he said.

“God had to take us through the night so we could see how valuable we are, and how valuable the power of God is.”

Originally published as Torres Strait rescue: Fishermen praise God and Parramatta Eels for survival