Overview
- Daniel Fitzgerald, 45, and student Stu Fillman, 43, who vanished Saturday near North Stradbroke Island, were spotted Sunday morning by an AMSA jet that dropped a life raft.
- Strong southerly currents dragged them about 14 nautical miles south to waters roughly 2.2 nautical miles off Main Beach.
- Water police reached the raft, and a Surf Life Saving helicopter winched the pair out and flew them to Gold Coast University Hospital for checks.
- Authorities and the divers credited dry suits, inflated buoyancy vests and using twin tanks for flotation with keeping them alive in rough seas for more than 20 hours.
- Fillman said aircraft passed close several times and disclosed a history of multiple myeloma with heart failure, calling the ordeal the closest he has come to dying.