Flares seen by Australian spotter plane

02/12/2019

A father and son have been rescued in a large search area off the Western Australia coast, after firing flares when their motorboat failed and drifted in bad weather.

Glen and Darren Plaisted were saved by the flares after being stranded off the Albany coast for hours in rough conditions after drifting a long way off course.

Their radio failed and their locator had fallen overboard, so Darren phoned his mother for help, but the battery ran out and they had no idea where they were.

They were only rescued thanks to the flares after a rescue plane located them in a large search area.

Albany Sea Rescue captain Chris Johns said the men were very lucky to be found and rescued, reports the Albany Advertiser and the Albany Rescue Squad Facebook page. As they were being blown further off-course every minute, the search area was getting larger.

Darren Plaisted says, “We were terrified with every minute that passed. There were waves bigger than our boat — it was hectic,” he said.

Another boat tried to rescue the pair, but the conditions were too bad. By the time they were seen by the spotter plane and rescued, they had drifted 13kilometres. When their flares were seen, they were very emotional.

The image is a stock shot of an Albany Rescue boat.

Mr Plaisted said it was cold and scary. “Honestly, I thought ‘another hour and we’re gone’.