Surfers Found Safe, on Surfboards, After 38 Hours Lost at Sea

Four Australian tourists and two Indonesian crew members have been rescued after 38 hours adrift in a remote part of the ocean off the coast of Indonesia. The Australians were part of a larger group, 17 members total including crew members, that launched Sunday in two boats headed from the North Nias to Pinang Island, which is known to have great waves for surfing and beautiful beaches, NBC News reports. When bad weather hit, including heavy rain, one of the boats took shelter on a different island, but the other boat, a 30-foot wooden vessel that was carrying four Australian surfers and three Indonesian crew members, continued on. Contact with the boat was lost Sunday night, ABC.net reports.

It's not yet clear what exactly happened, but the four surfers were found in the sea on their surfboards, along with two of the crew members; the third remains missing. Three of the surfers were together while the fourth had apparently paddled toward an island to find help and was found separately, the Guardian reports. The father of one of the surfers says his son had been headed to the island to celebrate his 30th birthday with friends. "I want him to finish his holiday," his dad says. "If the surf's great and the weather's come good and they're having a great time and they're with their best mates, you know, there's no point in him coming home." (More Indonesia stories.)