Fisherman rescued in Gulf of Carpentaria

A fisherman is lucky to be alive after spending more than 12 hours in the water in the Gulf of  Carpentaria today when  his boat capsized. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) launched a search and rescue operation for  the fisherman after detecting his registered distress beacon at 1.20 am AEST. AMSA tasked one of its dedicated Challenger search and rescue jets to the area, which  located the man’s upturned boat at 6.45 am about 75 kilometres northwest of Karumba. Queensland Police Service, Burketown and Karumba Volunteer Marine Rescue, a  Queensland Government rescue helicopter from Cairns  and three additional fixed - wing aircraft  were also used in the search. The rescue helicopter located the fisherman and a volunteer marine rescue vessel retrieved  him alive from the water at about 2pm.