Sharks attacked a yacht carrying three tourists.
Two Russians and one Frenchman were sailing more than 800km from the Australian coast when they encountered a group of animals that repeatedly bit into their catamaran.
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The alarm was raised in the very early morning hours as the vessel began to sink.
Three men, aged 28 to 63, were on board a boat called Tion that was sailing from Vanuatu towards Cairns. They were forced to ask for assistance.
Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) received a distress call at about 1.30am local time on Wednesday (4.30pm BST on Tuesday).
Sharks are known to sink their sharp teeth in the inflatable hulls of yachts.
AMSA duty Manager Joe Zeller confirmed that crews discovered a large section of hull missing.
The back of the boat is submerged, as shown in a picture released by the authorities.
M. Zeller said: “Sharks attack vessels for many different reasons.”
The motivations behind these sharks remain unclear.
Reports say that the three men, Evgeny Kvalevsky Stanislav Berezkin, and Vincent Beaujeu set out on their journey on August 28. news.com.au.
Zeller says that the journey of 2200 miles usually takes between two and three weeks.
The three males are healthy and happy.
AMSA reminds sailors that they should always have a beacon of distress on their daring journeys.
The statement was: “GPS equipped EPIRBs, and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs), can save you life in an accident.
“Make sure your distress beacon is properly registered with AMSA.”