When Their Boat Sank, Three Men Found Themselves In Shark-Infested Waters

Huge waves smacked Luan Nguyen in the face as he clung to an ice chest bobbing up and down in the vast expanse of the ocean. The boat upon which he had been fishing just a few minutes ago had sunk into the briny deep. Then, just as he thought his situation couldn’t get any worse, the black eyes and razor-sharp teeth of a shark appeared out of the gloom. What did he do? Here’s his incredible tale of survival.

A normal fishing trip

When Luan, Phong Le, and Son Nguyen had climbed into Le’s boat on a cold October morning in 2022, they could have had no idea what they were in store for. The plan was simply to fish for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico, and their 24-foot vessel seemed more than fit for purpose. They’d even tied it to an oil rig for extra safety, before getting down to the business of catching their dinner!

Best-laid plans

The group figured their trip wouldn’t be a long one, as the elements were expected to conspire against them later in the day. Le told website AccuWeather, “We knew that the weather was getting worse towards the afternoon, mid-to-late afternoon.” With that in mind, though, they still believed they had a safe window to catch some fish and get the fresh catch back home to throw on the grill.

The weather turns sooner than expected

Everything was going well for the friends initially; they even took some pictures with their catches of the day. But things took a quick turn when, all of sudden, the wind picked up much earlier than they’d thought it would. Huge waves began smashing into the boat, and as an experienced fisherman, Le knew it was time for the group to don their lifejackets.

Things quickly go from bad to worse

Within minutes, though, the situation had begun to spiral out of control. Despite Le adjusting their anchor, the waves were so massive that the boat began taking on water. Le later told ABC News, “We made a distress call on the VHF radio to the Coast Guard and let them know that we’d taken on water. And not even seconds after that, the boat was nearly halfway in the water.”

Le thinks quickly

A horrified Le realized at that moment that his boat was only moments away from sinking beneath the waves. Thinking fast, he used his bandana to quickly tie together two ice chests he had on the boat. Amazingly, he actually had a friend who’d told him about surviving a similar situation using identical chests to stay afloat!

The ice chests save the day

Le told AccuWeather, “When the boat sank, we jumped into the water and swam toward the ice chests. That’s pretty much what really saved us. We grabbed both ice chests, tied them together and pretty much hung on for dear life.” Luan reiterated to ABC News, “That was critical in us surviving,” before adding, “Happened to be that one of the ice chests actually had water and fruit in there!”

The first night

The chests kept the friends above water overnight, while they tried to figure out how to get back to the oil rig. Luan told AccuWeather, “If you get high enough on an oil rig, maybe somebody can see you, maybe you’ll get [a] phone signal.” But by 10:00 a.m. the next day, the boat had sunk completely out of view, and they were now adrift on the ice chests, pushed away from the rig by the gale-force winds.

Finding out they weren’t alone

Le told People magazine, “The wind was way too strong. It was pushing us so fast that we couldn’t even swim back to the oil rig.” The friends were quite literally being washed out to sea: that’s when they noticed they weren’t alone. As they desperately tried to keep their heads above water, their lower bodies became prime targets for the various hungry denizens of the deep that were circling.

Attack of the jellyfish

The friends were repeatedly nipped and stung all over their legs, back, and hands by fish and jellyfish; they were totally powerless to stop it happening. Le admitted, “You’re trying to kick them off, but it kind of grabs at you. It was pretty much like a bunch of hypodermic needles just sticking at one time.” At one point, after falling asleep from exhaustion, Le actually awoke to find a jellyfish laying in his lap!

Signal problems

Over the course of the day, the friends attempted to call 911 again and again. All their iPhones were safe inside waterproof cases — which is a great tip for anyone wanting to go out on the water — but, unfortunately, they couldn’t get a signal. No matter how many times they tried, their calls and texts just wouldn’t get through to anyone.

Howling winds

As day turned into night again and with the wind showing no signs of easing, the situation became scarier still. Le told People, “The wind was howling, it was blowing constantly 20mph. I would see the Moon, and the Moon would disappear. I would see the Moon and I could see the waves rolling and it would just crash over us, every maybe five minutes.”

Tying themselves to the ice chests

But the friends weren’t just going to give up and accept their fate. In another brainwave, they tied themselves to the ice chests using string, which meant they could afford periods of rest without worrying about floating away from the group. The constant pummelling from the waves and whipping from the winds began to take its toll on their minds and bodies, though.

Trying to stay warm

Le recounted, “We pretty much just hunkered down with each other, held each other pretty close, and then just tried to stay warm. The water was warm, but anything that your body was above the water was freezing.” Le knew that the longer they remained adrift, the more likely they were to perish, but he didn’t quite know how to save them yet.

SOS

Le’s first opportunity to do just that came at 2:00 a.m., when the group looked to the sky and, to their amazement, saw a Coast Guard plane flying over them. He thrust his iPhone to the sky and let his flash give three quick bursts: an improvised SOS call. Unfortunately, he confessed, “I kept doing it, but the Moon was so bright, there was no way they could see us.”

Luan’s lifejacket fails

After his SOS attempt, Le noticed his phone battery had dwindled to 5 percent, so he began to conserve what little juice he had left. This was around the time water began to find its way inside Luan’s life vest, doing its best to drag the exhausted man under. Le gave his pal a second smaller life jacket from around his neck, but he still knew Luan barely had any energy left to stay afloat.

A glimmer of hope

Another cold, exhausting night followed, but Sunday morning brought with it a glimmer of hope. The group noticed a shrimp boat in the far distance, attached to an oil rig. They began to swim toward their salvation with the aid of the ice chests, but the force of the wind and strong currents conspired to make sure they were going nowhere fast.

A big call

Le knew this was his second chance to save their lives, though, so he made a huge call. He told People, “I made a decision and told them that we had one shot. I’m going to just leave the pack and swim toward the shrimp boat by myself.” It was a scary prospect for Luan and Son, and the three men had a huge debate about whether it was the right move.

The debate

Le told AccuWeather, “Son told me not to do it. He didn’t want me to go, you know, but he had to stay back with Luan.” In truth, Son’s reticence made sense: after all, something could easily have gone wrong and Le could have drowned. In that instance, they’d never have seen their friend again and wouldn’t have known whether he’d actually raised help or not. But in the moment Le had been adamant it was their best option for rescue.

“Next thing he’s gone”

Luan related, “And then next thing he’s gone, and that’s the last we see him. We don’t see him after that.” He and Son stayed there floating on the ice chests, hoping against hope that they’d be reunited with Le — and a rescue party. They didn’t have time to worry and fret, though, as this was when their ordeal jumped from a slow-burn feeling of dread to outright, heart-in-the-mouth danger.

Shark attack

“Out of nowhere this shark attacks,” Luan told People. “I reacted by just trying to push him off, but that didn’t work.” He elaborated to AccuWeather, “I’m face-to-face with it. The face of it is about 12 to 14 inches wide across.” Yes, as if trying to stay alive wasn’t hard enough, now the terrified fisherman was staring down the snout of a ravenous shark!

Luan fights off the beast

The shark was attacking in a terrifying frenzy of teeth and fury, and it took a huge bite out of Luan’s lifejacket in the process. Luan revealed, “I try to push him, to get off, to go away. It doesn’t go anywhere.” By this point, he knew it was do or die, so he tried something smart, but risky. Luan explained, “I just take my thumbs and jammed his eyes and he just took off.”

War wounds

Luan didn’t come away from the encounter unscathed, though: his hand sustained some severe damage. What’s more, Son was also badly hurt in the attack, too. A Coast Guard co-pilot who later examined them told Today, “They had multiple lacerations on their hand, almost down to the bone, indicative of a shark bite and serrated edges indicative of a shark’s tooth puncturing their hands.”

Preparing for the end

Luan and Son had managed to survive the attack through sheer gumption and will to live, but it left them on their last legs. By now, Luan’s second lifejacket was in tatters; he could only stay afloat by holding onto the ice chests. Then one of them began to break apart in the raging waters. He truly started to think he might not make it, later admitting, “I was preparing.”

Meanwhile...

Le, of course, had no idea his friends had been tangling with a shark: he was too busy swimming with all his might to reach the shrimp boat. As he dragged his aching limbs through the water, he believed he was about a mile away, but then he saw their potential saviors sail away into the horizon. He could have easily given up, but then he noticed another oil rig close by.

Thwarted again

Filled with hope — as he knew getting to this oil rig would likely see his phone signal kick back in — Le began swimming in its direction. Unfortunately, after three draining hours of swimming, the current turned against him, making it impossible to get to the rig. Most people would have called it a day then, after being thwarted twice, but suddenly a piece of inspiration struck.

An ingenious idea

Le whipped out his iPhone — which had only 5 percent battery life left, lest we remind you — as he remembered it could geolocate his position. He told People, “I opened up my Apple Maps to see where I’m at and it showed me my location.” Amazingly, his device was showing Le exactly where he was in the Gulf; he quickly snapped a screenshot, before taking the device off airplane mode.

Sending a Hail Mary text

As soon as Le had done that “text messages started coming in. So, I caught some kind of signal being closer to that other oil rig.” The last person to text him was his buddy Van To, so Le felt he was the best bet to contact. He quickly sent him the screenshot, alongside the message, “I’m floating out to sea, my boat sank.”

Would his gamble pay off?

“I saw he received [the message],” revealed Le, before adding to ABC News, “I see him trying to reply to me. And the phone cut off. I ran out of battery.” This left Le floating in the water, not knowing if To would do anything to help, or even take his out-of-nowhere cry for help seriously. All the while, Luan and Son were bleeding out into the water and trying not to succumb to exhaustion.

Contacting the Coast Guard

Thankfully, although Le didn’t know it at the time, To did take action. He sent the text and location screenshot to Le’s fiancée, who forwarded it on to the Coast Guard, which was already engaged in a search for the group! You see, another family member had alerted them to the friends’ disappearance on Saturday night, and rescue teams had begun searching a 1,250-square-mile area of the gulf.

Rescue

Through Le’s quick thinking — and his friend and fiancée’s rapid response — the Coast Guard now knew exactly where to look for the men. Less than two hours after sending his Hail Mary text, Le looked up to the sky to see a helicopter swooping in to rescue him. He was hoisted out of the water by the helicopter personnel, while a boat was sent to rescue Luan and Son.

“The best feeling ever”

An emotional Luan told People, “Oh, man. That feeling of getting pulled out of the water was the best feeling ever. I was like, ‘I can stop swimming. I can stop. I could really stop now.’” When he laid eyes on the Coast Guard hero who got him out of the water, he admitted, “I just remember him picking me up, pulling me out of the water, like, ‘Wow. I made it.’”

“Everybody just passed out”

The badly dehydrated Luan and Son were given fresh water to drink, and Luan’s hand wounds were treated. Then the tired and sunburned pair were taken to the helicopter that rescued Le, before all three were flown to the University Medical Center New Orleans. Luan admitted there was little conversation among the reunited pals, saying, “Everybody just passed out. We were spent.”

Reunited and it feels so good

All in all, the ordeal saw the men spend 30 hours in the water, unsure if they would ever see their loved ones again. But by 1:00 a.m. on Monday morning, Le was able to come home to his fiancée and son, while Luan was embraced by his ecstatic parents. Unfortunately, Le told People that Son’s voice had been damaged by swallowing too much salt water, so he couldn’t yet speak to the press.

Meeting their savior

Barely a day after getting home, Le and Luan flew to New York City to meet Coast Guard seaman Andrew Stone, the man who had pulled them from certain death. Luan had tears in his eyes as he said, “I choked up. It was an emotional moment for me. We owe them everything.” Le added, “Oh man, I owe them my life. I mean, if it wasn’t for them we would’ve never been found.”

“No words”

From Stone’s perspective, saving lives is what it’s all about. He told People, “I love this branch because we’re able to do stuff like that. And to be able to see [Le and Luan] alive and recovering, it’s awesome.” The 30 colleagues who contributed to the rescue were also planning to meet the survivors, with Luan saying, “I want to meet all of them. There’s no words that you can say to show your appreciation for something like that.”

“Time was running out”

Indeed, a Coast Guard statement rammed home just how dire the group’s situation had been, saying, “All three men had been fending off hypothermia,” and adding, “Time was running out.” Commander Kevin Keefe added, “If the family member had not notified the Coast Guard, and if these three boaters were not wearing lifejackets, this could’ve been a completely different outcome.”

Counting themselves lucky

Keefe stressed just how lucky the men had been to Today. He marveled, “They just happened to be floating around and he received text messages, like his cell phone got… service. He told me he had 2 percent battery.” He added, “It’s difficult for us to describe how lucky they were that all these things happened in their favor and ultimately, we were able to rescue them.”

Le had been desperate to save his friends

In the end, Le told AccuWeather that he’d only had one objective in mind as he swam toward that shrimp boat: to save his friends’ lives, even if it cost him his own. He knew, deep down, that they would be extremely unlikely to survive another night in that freezing cold water, surrounded by predators. Luan went even further: he firmly believes he wouldn’t have made it.

A warning to others

The lucky pals hope their ordeal will highlight the need for fishermen — or anyone going out on the water — to always have the correct equipment and a “float plan” in place. This includes life vests — preferably bright, luminous ones with reflectors that can be spotted easily in the vastness of the sea! They also advised having ice chests onboard, with Le joking, “You know that was our Wilson in Cast Away.”