Recreation turned into horror for two men when the inflatable mattress they were drinking beer on drifted into the sea off the coast of Western Australia. The duo was stranded when the wind picked up and dragged them two-and-a-half miles out into the Indian Ocean, The Vice reported.
The two men were identified as Jackson Perry and Noah Palmer and were floating outside Palmer’s oceanside house in Mandurah. Soon they noticed the were drifting further from the shore. By the time they could act and get back to the shore, the wind had pushed them several thousand metres away from the shore.
“We couldn’t paddle against the wind and we just kept going further and further out,” Perry was quoted as saying.
“We only aimed to be 100 metres offshore, max, and before we knew it we were out to sea. Fortunately enough, they were rescued.
“All we knew is that our friend Tex was 30 to 40 minutes away, and we were just hoping he finds us because all of our phones were dying and we were kind of getting worried at that point.”
To add to their distress, the inflatable mattress had holes and began to sink. Palmer had to re-inflate it manually after every 10 minutes. Volunteer rescuers received their call for help. Tex was the first to respond and arrived on a jet ski with another friend, Rueben, to rescue Palmer and Perry from the wobbly mattress in the middle of the sea.
“Rueben spots this thing out, way out in the ocean on the horizon and he goes ‘I think that’s them’,” Tex was quoted . “I go ‘surely not, there’s no way they’re that far out on a mattress.”
The duo was stranded in the middle of the sea for nearly three hours till the help arrived and they returned safely back to the shore. However stressful the situation, Palmer and Perry said they did have a pretty good time, but would make sure to check the wind and weather forecast next time they venture out near the sea.