Fishermen rescued after becoming trapped beneath capsized boat

Two fishermen have been saved in a dramatic rescue, after their boat capsized, trapping one of the men underneath.

The men left Currumbin on the Gold Coast around 6am this morning, before hitting a sandbar, which caused the boat’s engine to stall.

A wave then hit boat, capsizing it.

One of the men was able to dive off the boat but his companion was sucked under in the dangerous swell.

Nearby paddleboarders witnessed the incident, rushing to the men’s aid.

“We just happened to look to the south and we saw a boat in trouble and unfortunately a big set came through… and they got swamped by a big wave and overturned,” Greg Beer said.

“Overall there, really lucky there were people around to help them at the time.”

He said one of the men dived beneath the boat to rescue the man trapped beneath, while others attended to the second man swimming around the boat.

“He was stuck under there for about five minutes and one of my training partners dived down to try and get him out,” Mr Beer said.

Once he had emerged, the paddleboarders helped both men to shore.

One of the fishermen, Kerry Gray, said he’s grateful to the paddleboarders, who rescued his friend from beneath the boat.

“Pretty lucky the lads were there,” he said.

“They were all ex-lifeguards and so on, they knew what they were doing.

“The sets came out of nowhere, it looked like nothing and then they were just there.”

Mr Gray’s fishing buddy was taken to Robina Hospital, having swallowed a substantial amount of seawater.

A paramedic on scene said he had been unconscious for a short period of time.

“A ski rider helped rescue that gentleman and we’re just taking off to hospital for observation and he’s 100 per cent ok,” they said.

“Very fortunate a lot of people were out there who jumped to help that gentleman.”