Two rescued from stricken yacht in 'terrible' conditions off the Australian coast

Stricken in rough seas and with their yacht taking on water, two people were rescued almost 24 hours after the vessel became stranded off Australia's southern coast, officials said Tuesday.

A 48-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man were successfully transferred to the Nemesis, a New South Wales Water Police patrol boat, at 7:25 a.m. local time (5:25 p.m. ET), the force said in a statement.

“They were fine at the time,” Chief Inspector Anthony Brazzill of NSW Police Marine Area Command told a news conference after the rescue. “But the conditions were terrible.”

He added that the waves were almost 20 feet tall and winds were up to 60-knots.

The 62 foot “Spirit of Mateship” had sustained a mechanical failure and was taking on water 93 miles off the coast of New South Wales, when a distress beacon was activated at about 1 p.m. local time on Monday, the police statement said.

About two hours later, a rescue helicopter arrived on scene and was able make contact with the two crew members, but they were unable to extract the pair because of the extreme conditions and concerns about fuel, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement.

The conditions were so bad that the operation was suspended overnight and only resumed at first light, the police statement said.

A rescue boat was then able to reach the scene and safely extract the pair, a few hours later, it said, adding that they were “uninjured.”

After their ordeal, Brazzill said the pair were “sound asleep” aboard the boat.

“They tell us they did check the weather conditions, but you know, we’ve had gale force warnings,” he said.

Yacht-related accidents are not uncommon Australia.

In April 2022, a father and his son were rescued from a yacht after it crashed into a reef in Western Australia.

Then in June this year, a 65-year-old man died after his yacht capsized off Lady Elliot Island, the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef.