Boaters ‘fending off sharks’ before Coast Guard rescue | USA TODAY

Three boaters were reported missing after failing to return home. The Coast Guard found them wearing life jackets and "fending off sharks."

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The Coast Guard said in a statement that the three boaters were on a fishing trip that went awry when their 24-foot boat sank around 10 a.m. Saturday. Family members reported them missing but it took more than a day after they fell into the water for the Coast Guard to locate them.

The Coast Guard arrived Sunday afternoon with a helicopter and a boat. "The boatcrew arrived on scene and witnessed two of the boaters fending off sharks, along with injuries to both boater's hands," according to a Coast Guard statement. A social media post from the Coast Guard described the rescue coming "just in the nick of time."

The three people, stranded 25 miles off Empire, La., were lucky to be wearing lifejackets and were pulled out of the water before being flown on the helicopter to the hospital in New Orleans, where they're all alive with minor injuries, the Coast Guard said. Outside of one boater with hypothermia, no major injuries were reported.

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