TWO men whose vessel sank off Swansea in Lake Macquarie accessed the internet on a mobile phone to contact a rescue organisation and ended up with Swansea Coastguard in Wales.
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The men, aged in their 20s from Richmond, struck trouble when their boat overturned and sank.
They swam to nearby Moon Island, off Swansea Heads.
The BBC, ITV and South Wales Evening Post reported the men mistakenly contacted the Wales-based Swansea Coastguard.
“The gentleman kept talking about a Lake Macquarie and that he was between two headlands waving a lifejacket,’’ a coastguard spokesman said.
The incident occurred at about 6.10pm on Thursday, which was 7.10am in Wales.
Swansea Coastguard watchman Arwyn Williams told the BBC that the caller began describing the area.
‘‘We didn’t recognise any of the places or features he could see and then the night watchman asked him which country he was in – at which point he said Australia,’’ Mr Williams said.
The Wales-based coastguard contacted authorities in Australia, but by this time Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie was on its way to making the rescue.
The organisation has a radio base on Swansea headland, overlooking Moon Island.
‘‘One of our members saw them standing on Moon Island,’’ Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie unit commander John Hatton said.
‘‘They had lifejackets on, which saved their lives,’’ Mr Hatton said.
The men had crossed Swansea bar in a five-metre fibreglass boat, but when they neared the island they realised the seas were too rough.
As they tried to turn around, the boat flipped.
Mr Hatton said it was ‘‘very tricky’’ to get the rescue vessel to the island because of rocks.
‘‘Once you get within 100 metres, you’re dodging rocks all the time,’’ he said.
The mens’ boat was badly damaged and full of water, but the rescue organisation salvaged it.
‘‘Their boat was floating nose up, but we towed it back over a tricky bar and to the ramp at Blacksmiths,’’ Mr Hatton said.
