The lone survivor of a shipwreck told police Wednesday that he watched helplessly as sharks ate his father and brother.
James Coucom, 33, said his father, Cedric, 62, and brother, Bruce, 17, were seized by sharks after their trawler capsized in heavy seas Sunday off Rockhampton, northeastern Australia.Coucom, who is hospitalized suffering from shock, told police the family fishing boat, Christie V, overturned in gale force winds about six miles off the Queensland coast.
He drifted to safety and was found late Tuesday suffering from dehydration, police said.
"He was in a bad way as one could imagine, and we couldn't get much out of him," said a Rockhampton police spokesman. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Coucom told police the three tried to make it to a dinghy when the sharks attacked.