Pensioners beat sharks and crocs

Two pensioners in Australia's far north survived for eight hours in shark- and crocodile-infested waters after their fishing boat was overturned by a freak wave.

Ross Pennisi, 82, and Phillip Sorbello, 77, put their survival down to "the bloke from up there" answering their prayers as they clung to their boat in coastal mangrove swamps near the town of Ingham, north Queensland.

At one point Mr Sorbello, who cannot swim, nearly drowned as the pair tried to drag their boat to shore, hindered by a dragging anchor.

They paddled and pulled the boat for 2 miles until they came to a river populated by saltwater crocodiles, which have killed 17 people in Australia since the mid-70s. Mr Pennisi said he had feared for his life. "I stumbled over the mangrovesand nearly broke my neck," he told Australian Associated Press.

The pair were spotted among the mangroves by a helicopter sent out after Mr Pennisi's wife alerted authorities. They were discharged after a check-up, though Mr Pennisi believes he may have cracked his ribs. "I've been tough all my life and thank God for that," he said.