Man sails from PNG to Australian island on twig raft

SYDNEY (AFP) – A Polish man was lucky to be alive Friday after sailing from Papua New Guinea to a north Australian island on a raft made  of twigs and sticks, through crocodile and shark-infested waters, during a  cyclone.

The man was found washed up in mangroves on Saibai Island in the Torres

Strait, a treacherous stretch of water that lies between the two countries.

What made his survival even more miraculous was that he attempted the trip  in the aftermath of Cyclone Oswald, with 1.5 metre (five foot) swells and 40  knot winds, rescue authorities said.

“It’s the first time I’ve heard of someone trying to cross the Torres  Strait in a raft in the middle of a cyclone,” Australian Maritime Safety  Authority (AMSA) spokeswoman Jo Meehan told AFP, adding that the flimsy raft  was held together with string.

“It’s not something we’d recommend. Navigation in the area is challenging  for normal vessels, it’s quite treacherous with reefs and rocks, and he did it  in high winds and high seas.

“He’s very lucky to have made it.”

Australian immigration authorities said they were waiting to interview the  man and it was not clear whether he was carrying a passport.

“He has been transferred to Thursday Island where he has been detained,” a  spokesman said, adding that the man was being medically assessed before being  interviewed to find out why he made the trip.