Torres Strait rescue: Warraber man Adea Tabuai describes moment sharks circled him in ocean
Dehydrated, clinging to a piece of wood less than half his size, a fisherman has spoken of the lengths he went to in order to stay alive in the Torres Strait for 24 hours. Watch the video.
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A fisherman considered releasing the piece of wood that he clung to for 24 hours and letting the Torres Strait, and the surrounding sharks, take him.
Adea Tabuai, 31, was lost at sea between Cape York and Papua New Guinea after his boat overturned in treacherous weather on Tuesday.
Dehydrated, clinging to a piece of wood less than half his size to stay afloat while being tossed in dangerous seas home to sharks and crocodiles, Mr Tabuai looked up at the stars and prayed.
For hours the Warraber man had been beset by rain and wind, and battling numb limbs, but in between bouts of despair and dehydration, he prayed for help.
“I prayed to God someone would find me,” he said.
“I tried not to think of the sharks and crocodiles but I was afraid.”
When morning came and he was exhausted, Mr Tabuai kept faith and prayed again.
“I had seen planes and waved, hoping a passenger or pilot would see me,” Mr Tabuai said.
“I saw a helicopter, I waved as hard as I could but then it went away.
“I decided that if they did not come back then I would let go of the wood and let it float away and let the ocean take me.
“But I prayed again to God to send someone to rescue me.”
It wasn’t until 10.25am on December 21 that police and marine officers winched him to safety on the same day Queensland Police farewelled two of their own killed in a bloody ambush.
Mr Tabuai’s prayers were answered when three rescue helicopters spotted him about 2km from his overturned dinghy.
“It was a miracle,” he said.
“When I was winched up into the helicopter, the man told me I was very lucky.
“He said to me that as they flew over me they could see a circle of sharks around me, waiting.”
A softly spoken Mr Tabuai replied: “I did not know that.”
From his hospital bed at Thursday Island, Mr Tabuai said he was travelling from Moa Island to Warraber Island after unveiling the tombstone of his grandmother’s brother.
“I didn’t check the weather before I left,” he said.
“It was alright when I set out but when I had to refill the petrol tank it had become very rough.”
It was expected to take three hours but conditions meant his voyage went horribly wrong.
And to make matters worse, Mr Tabuai was without a life jacket or flares.
“I had my phone in a dry bag on my arm,” he said.
“But I could not make a call because of the conditions and no signal.”
When Mr Tabai did not arrive his family contacted Thursday Island police.
Two Australian Border Force helicopters, a fixed-wing rescue aircraft, a Queensland Water Police vessel and seven private boats from the Moa and Warraber communities immediately started searching.
Recalling the moment it all went wrong, Mr Tabuai, a 6’4 dive crayfish fisherman, said he noticed his dinghy engine was running low on fuel.
“I was filling up the petrol tank and I was facing the bow,” he said.
“As I was running out towards the other islands the fuel went down and I had to refuel again.
“I tried to bail out the water but it was rising in the dinghy.
“Then I tried using the fuel hose to suck up the water but burned my mouth and lips with petrol.
“My things were floating in the boat and then I realised I was in a dangerous life and death situation.”
Then Mr Tabuai started swimming.
“I tried to stay close when the boat tipped over,” he said.
“I clung on to the timber flooring and started floating away from my boat.”
The waves were rough and meant Mr Tabuai had to use all his strength to hang onto the wood.
“By this time it was around 3.30pm to 4pm,” he said.
“I had been carried away from my boat, I was worried.”
Realising it would soon be dark, Mr Tabuai said he felt alone and tired but tried not to panic.
As a fisherman, Mr Tabuai is familiar with sharks and crocodiles but being in the sea with them adrift and alone was different, he said.
“So I looked up in the sky and asked God to protect me when I was in this dangerous situation,” Mr Tabuai said.
“I was trying to not be scared and asked him to send someone to look over me.”
Thursday Island Hospital Senior Medical Officer Adam Holyoak said Mr Tabaui’s mental strength was the reason he survived.
Dr Holkoak, an emergency medicine specialist, looked after Mr Tabaui once he arrived at hospital.
“He was in pretty good nick really,” he said.
“It sounds a bit trite but maintaining a will to survive — be it through prayer or thinking of loved ones — makes all the difference.”
Dr Holyoak said another reason Mr Tabaui was saved was because he told someone where he was going.
“If he hadn’t done that, it would have been very different.”
The Queensland Water Police officers who spent the night searching for Mr Tabaui said they were so stunned to find him alive.
“We had stayed out overnight and about lunchtime the next day when we had found his empty boat, we feared the worst,” Senior Sergeant Jason Jesse said.
“The conditions we were experiencing on the way out there in a big boat were bad enough, we knew if he was in a small boat then the gentleman would be in trouble.
“It was pitch black and windswept with large choppy waves.”
He added: “We had to search an area of around 400 sq nautical miles for one man in horrendous conditions so we were very lucky to find him.”
Water Police crew member Senior Constable Tonia Bradford said she was in disbelief.
“Especially as we knew he had no lifejacket on,” she said.
Thursday Island Officer in Charge Sergeant Anthony Moynihan said: “It’s been a really tough couple of months for QPS, especially the last two weeks so to get this result is amazing.”
Leaning back in his hospital bed, Mr Tabuai was visited by relatives including his grandmother May Morseu, 67, aunty Nancy Nakata, 65, and cousin Ella Gibuma, 45.
Clustered around him they took turns to hug him.
His aunty Nancy also scolded him.
“He’s a rascal,” she said.
Mr Tabaui said while the ocean was in his heart it would be while before he got back in a dinghy.
And he will never take to the water again without safety equipment.
“I feel different, safety comes first, I know this for next time,” he said.
“For those people who went out to look for me, my family, my brothers and my cousins I thank you because you took your time to fill (your boats) up and come out in rough seas to come and look for me — thank you and God bless you.”
Mr Tabuai said he was indebted to the emergency services who saved his life.
“It was a Christmas miracle,” he said.
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