HARVEY, La. — Three friends from Harvey survived a wild weekend in the water off the coast of Plaquemines Parish.
Video from Delta Marina in Empire shows the men loading their boat at the dock early Saturday morning.
Phong Le, Son Nguyen and Luan Nguyen were heading out to the Gulf of Mexico to catch red snapper.
Luan Nguyen said they started having engine problems about 25 miles offshore.
“Started taking on water. Tried to make it back in and went under. Tried to make it back in and it was too choppy. The boat started to take on too much water, so it just sank.”
Nguyen shared video of himself in the water in rough seas, wearing a bright orange life vest, hanging on to an ice chest.
He said suddenly a large shark attacked him.
"The head part was in front of me and the shark from just out of nowhere bit the vest,” Nguyen said. “So, I pushed the shark and then I tried to push his nose. That didn’t do anything. So, I stuck both of my thumbs and jabbed him in the eyes, and it took off.”
Video shot from a Coast Guard rescue helicopter showed Nguyen on the sinking vessel, fending off the shark.
“It bit my vest, but it caught my hands, too, got my fingers,” Nguyen said.
Delta Marina owner Mitch Jurisich said it has been a particularly bad year for sharks, especially in that part of the gulf.
“Our fishermen come in and they are complaining all the time about not being able to bring their limit of Red Snapper home or other snapper or other species because the sharks are eating everything they catch.”
The winds were blowing about 25-30 miles per hour on Saturday as a cold front approached, Jurisich added.
“The wind on Saturday night was very ruthless, it was blowing very hard out of the north. Not a good situation.”
The fishermen were reported missing early Sunday, when they didn’t make it back to the marina.
According to the Coast Guard, boats and helicopters searched an area roughly the size of Rhode Island before locating Nguyen and his friends.
They were rescued and flown to University Medical Center in New Orleans where the men were treated for minor injuries.
Nguyen said he does not expect back on the water, anytime soon.
“That’s the gist of it," he said. "My offshore fishing career is over.”
Nguyen said he and his friends were in the water for about 28 hours before they were rescued and all three of them were hypothermic at the time of the rescue.
He added they are all doing okay after their frightening ordeal.
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