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WORLD BRIEFING / AUSTRALIA

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Times Wire Reports

Two desperate, dehydrated men found bobbing in a bathtub-size cooler off Australia told authorities they had spent 25 days adrift after their fishing boat sank, officials said. There was no sign of 18 other crew members.

Authorities were amazed that the men, from Myanmar, were spotted by a routine customs service flight that patrols for ships.

The men, 22 and 24, were rescued by helicopter Saturday, treated for dehydration and released Tuesday.

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Authorities did not say what the men ate or drank during their ordeal.

One rescuer, pilot Terry Gadenne, told Seven Network television that each man drank about 4 pints of water within seconds of being hoisted aboard the helicopter.

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