Three Friends Survive Shipwreck and Shark Attack After Boat Sinks - Internewscast Journal

Three friends survived a fishing-boat sinking and a shark attack after their vessel went down in the Gulf of Mexico, following a disastrous maiden trip described in reporting from Internewscast Journal. Paul Le, a New Orleans realtor who bought a used 24-foot Pro-Line center-console, headed out with lifelong friends Sonny and Lu on October 8, 2022. About ten miles offshore, the boat began taking on water below decks, the waves later swamped it, and the engines died. A broken bilge prevented pumping out water, and Le’s Mayday calls went unanswered; in the panic, the flare gun was not found. Le and the men tied two coolers into a makeshift raft, with one cooler holding 12 bottles of water and six tangerines. The Coast Guard said the chances of finding the men in the water were under 1%. The full account credits author Michael Tougias’ survival research and notes further threats from sun exposure and worsening conditions.