A group of sharks seemingly bit off more than they could chew while trying to gnaw on a group of fishermen waiting for rescue over the weekend.
A group of three fishermen who set out from Louisiana for a fishing trip reportedly spent over 24 hours floating adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, fighting off sharks as they waited to be rescued once their boat sank.
After being reported missing over the weekend, the fishermen were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard about 25 miles offshore, near Empire, Louisiana, according to reports.
Family members of the men contacted the Coast Guard when they had not returned by the expected time. Emergency responders searched at least 1,250 square miles of open waters before locating the boaters.
The coast guard found two men fighting off sharks with visible injuries to their hands from fending off the predators. A Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew reportedly found the third man and rescued him from the shark-infested waters.
At least one of the men suffered from hypothermia.
“We searched an area roughly the size of Rhode Island and are thankful to have found these boaters,” said Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Keefe, a New Orleans Search and Rescue mission coordinator in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Officials say all three men were wearing life jackets.
“If the family member had not notified the Coast Guard, and if these three boaters were not wearing life jackets, this could’ve been a completely different outcome,” suggested Keefe.
The Gulf of Mexico is home to a host of different aquatic predators. Under the waves are almost 50 different types of sharks, including Hammerhead sharks, Lemon sharks, Blacknose sharks, Bull sharks, and Great White sharks.