Fisherman makes 12-hour swim to shore

updated 9:29 a.m. ET Feb. 28, 2008

CANBERRA, Australia - A fisherman made a 12-hour marathon swim to shore and another was rescued after 30 hours in the sea, while authorities searched Thursday for a third person after a fishing trawler sank off Australia's eastern coast.

The alarm was first raised Wednesday afternoon when 39-year-old deckhand Michael Williams reached a beach in Northern New South Wales state after swimming for 12 hours, state police said in a statement.

"He's very strong," his mother, Fay Williams, told reporters Thursday outside the hospital where he is recovering in the town of Mullumbimby.

An air and sea search continued through the night and a second deckhand, John Jarrett, was found in the water clinging to a floating fiberglass shrimp-sorting tabletop Thursday morning about nine miles off the coast of Ballina, Ten Network television reported. Jarrett had spent 30 hours in the water, police said.

He was plucked from the sea by a rescue helicopter, which took him to a hospital in Ballina, helicopter rescue service spokesman Andy Christie said.

Jarrett, in his 40s and a father of three, told Ten network from his hospital bed that he never doubted he would survive.

"I've got a determination like no other person," Jarrett said.

The search continued Thursday for the trawler's skipper.

Tracey Jiggins, spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the search, said 10 planes and helicopters were continuing to search 370 square miles of ocean for the lost captain.

The trawler's nets became snagged on a reef before dawn Wednesday and sank within minutes, Ten reported.

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