‘I punched him in the face and jabbed him in the eyes’: Fisherman tells how he fought off sharks as boat sank
Two fishermen fought off sharks after their boat sank off the Louisiana coast while a third swam to search for help.
The swimmer, Phong Le, managed to find a phone signal and sent a Google map of his location just before his battery died, he told ABC News.
The trio were stranded at sea for 28 hours in shark-infected waters before being rescued.
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Fishing boat crew rescued after shark attack
Luan Nguyen said he and his friends had been in the water since around 10am on Saturday and the predators showed up on Sunday morning. He said one bit the front of his life jacket.
“I punched him in the face. And I think that’s where I caught… these injuries on my hand. I took my two thumbs and jabbed him in the eyes, and he took off,” he said.
The third man was identified as Son Nguyen.
When the group’s 24ft-long (7.3-metre) boat sunk, they were left with no radio in an area without phone service.
“We made a distress call on the VHF radio to the Coast Guard and let them know that we’d taken on water,” Mr Le told ABC. “And not even seconds after that, the boat was nearly halfway in the water.”
They tied two cool boxes together as a makeshift float and one held water and fruit, Mr Nguyen said.
Mr Le said he swam off for help on Sunday and after swimming for what felt like miles, he found a signal on his phone and texted his Google map location to a friend.
“I see him trying to reply to me. And the phone cut off – I ran out of battery,” Mr Le said.
A fisherman’s wife reported them missing around 10pm on Saturday, said Lieutenant Commander Kevin Keefe, rescue coordinator for Sector New Orleans.
One of the men’s life jackets was torn in a shark attack. Pic: US Coast Guard Heartland/Facebook
The woman did not know the launch point and he said it took around 3.5 hours to find their vehicle in Venice, near Louisiana’s southeastern tip, so crews would know the best areas to search when dawn broke.
Coast Guard boats, planes and a helicopter had spent fruitless hours searching an area larger than Rhode Island before the Google Maps screenshot arrived.
Using coastal contours, the command centre was able to figure out where it was, said Mr Keefe.
The two men were hoisted onto a helicopter. Pic: US Coast Guard Heartland/Facebook
The Coast Guard said the two men were found around 25 miles off Empire, a small community located along the last narrow strip of the Mississippi Delta, southeast of New Orleans.
Mr Le was rescued first.
Even as the two other men were pulled from the water and lifted into a helicopter they were being circled and harassed by four blacktip sharks measuring around 4-6ft (1.2-1.8m) long, said Andrew Stone, who was in the Coast Guard boat crew that rescued the exhausted pair.
“They were too tired to even be panicking,” he said.
All three fishermen went home on Tuesday, the Coast Guard said.
Police in Tennessee have discovered 14 improvised explosive devices in a man’s home as they were arresting him, the local sheriff’s office said.
Officers were executing a warrant in the home of Kevin Wade O’Neal in Old Fort, about 45 miles (70km) east of Chattanooga, after he had threatened to kill public officials and law enforcement personnel in Polk County.
After arresting the 54-year-old, officers noticed “something smouldering” in the bedroom where he was found.
Kevin Wade O’Neal. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office
On closer inspection, they discovered an improvised explosive device and evacuated the house until bomb squad officers arrived at the scene.
Fourteen devices were found inside the property – none of which detonated.
Improvised explosive devices were found in Kevin Wade O’Neal’s home. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office
Kevin Wade O’Neal’s home in Old Fort, Tennessee. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office
O’Neal was charged with 11 counts of attempted first-degree murder, corresponding to nine officers and two other people inside the property when the suspect tried to detonate the devices.
He also faces 14 counts of prohibited weapons and one count of possession of explosive components.
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O’Neal is being held at the Polk County jail and his bond is yet to be determined.
Donald Trump says he has ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the “appropriate regions” in a row with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.
It comes after Mr Medvedev, who is now deputy chair of Russia‘s Security Council, told the US president on Thursday to remember Moscow had Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort.
On Friday, Mr Trump wrote on social media: “Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.
“Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
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Trump: ‘We’re going to protect our people’
Speaking outside the White House later in the day, Mr Trump was asked about why he had moved the submarines and replied: “We had to do that. We just have to be careful.
“A threat was made and we didn’t think it was appropriate, so I have to be very careful. So I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former president of Russia and we’re going to protect our people.”
The spat between Mr Trump and Mr Medvedev came after the US president warned Russia on Tuesday it had “10 days from today” to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face tariffs, along with its oil buyers.
Moscow has shown no sign that it will agree to Mr Trump’s demands.
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On Thursday, Mr Medvedev reminded Mr Trump that Russia possessed a Soviet-era automated nuclear retaliatory system – or “dead hand”.
Mr Medvedev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was referring to a secretive semi-automated Soviet command system designed to launch Russia’s missiles if its leadership was taken out in a decapitating strike.
He made the remarks after Mr Trump told him to “watch his words” after Mr Medvedev said the US president’s threat of hitting Russia and its oil buyers with punitive tariffs was “a game of ultimatums” and added that “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war” between Russia and the US.
Dmitry Medvedev. Pic: Reuters
Mr Medvedev served as Russia’s president from 2008 and 2012, when Mr Putin was barred from seeking a third consecutive term, but then stepped aside to let him run again.
As deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, he has become known for his provocative and inflammatory statements since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
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