Aust'n man survives eight hours in shark-infested waters, swims 16km to shore

An Australian scuba diver has survived eight hours in shark-infested waters in the Indian Ocean after becoming separated from his boat and having to swim 16 kilometers in darkness to shore.

The 46-year-old had been diving with another man at African Reef off the West Australian (WA) coast on Thursday evening when he resurfaced and could not find their vessel, which had drifted from its mooring after the anchor rope broke.

The other man managed to find the boat and called the Volunteer Marine Rescue group just after 7pm local time, as it was getting dark.

The missing man had a reflective strip on his buoyancy jacket, but it was not enough to make him stand out at night. Several boats in the region joined the search and while some passed close by the stranded diver, none saw him.

"We got the boat in the water straight away," marine rescue spokesman Ian Beard told the Australian media on Friday.

The local maritime training college and three cray boats joined the search but were hampered by the nighttime conditions and rough seas.

"They'd gone past him, apparently, on a number of occasions," Beard said. "He didn't have a torch or a strobe or any way of signalling.

"In the dark and in nasty, choppy conditions, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

In the early hours of the morning, around the time rescuers were heading back to refuel with plans to resume the search at first light, the diver spotted torch lights as his desperate family members scoured the shoreline. He used them to swim his way back to land.

They found him on the beach at Greenough about an hour later, around 3:20 am local time, 33 kilometers from where he was last seen.

"I can just imagine what a reunion it was," Beard said. "It was a big swim."

The man was taken to hospital for a check-up and would have been close to suffering hypothermia, which can be fatal, Beard said.

Beard said the divers' boat was too small for the conditions, had no operating radio and they also should have had personal locator beacons.

He strongly recommended people in boats use their radio to log on with the local sea rescue group as they set off.

Last week, a diver was found in north Queensland after spending 14 hours floating in the ocean. Enditem