Brother and sister swim 14 hours for their lives after fishing boat sinks

An American brother and sister have survived a 14-hour swim to safety in the Caribbean after the fishing boat they had chartered sank off the north coast of St Lucia. The captain and first mate reportedly survived 23 hours in the water before they were rescued.

Dan Suski, a 30-year-old IT professional from San Francisco, said he had been wrestling a 200lb (90kg) marlin in rough seas with help from his sister, Kate Suski, a 39-year-old architect from Seattle, when the ship began to founder on 21 April. Water rushed into the cabin and flooded the engine room, prompting the captain to radio for help.

As the waves pounded the boat more water flooded in. The captain threw life jackets to the Suskis. "He said, 'Jump out! Jump out!'" Kate Suski recalled in a telephone interview on Thursday with the Associated Press.

The Suskis obeyed and jumped into the water with the captain and first mate. Less than five minutes later the boat sank. They were at least eight miles (13km) from shore and being tossed by tall waves. "The captain was telling us to stay together, and that help was on its way and that we needed to wait," Kate Suski said.

After an hour, when no help came, the Suskis decided to swim for it and lost sight of the captain and first mate. Then rain and swells cut the land from their view. "We would just see swells and gray," Dan Suski said.

A plane and a helicopter appeared in the distance and hovered over the area but no one spotted the siblings. Several hours went by, and the sun began to set. "There's this very real understanding that the situation is dire," Kate Suski said. "You come face to face with understanding your own mortality ... We both processed the possible ways we might die. Would we drown? Be eaten by a shark?"

"Hypothermia?" Dan Suski asked.

"Would our legs cramp up and make it impossible to swim?" the sister continued.

They swam for 12 to 14 hours, talking as they pushed and shivered their way through the ocean. Dan Suski tried to ignore images of the movie Open Water that kept popping into his head and its story of a scuba-diving couple left behind by their group and attacked by sharks. His sister said she also couldn't stop thinking about sharks. "I thought I was going to vomit I was so scared," she said.

When in the moonlight they finally came within about 10 meters of land they realised that they were looking at sheer rocky cliffs and would be battered to death against them if they tried to approach any closer.

They swam until they noticed a spit of sand nearby around midnight, dragged themselves ashore and collapsed before laying side by side, pulling up grass and brush to cover themselves and stay warm. After resting they pushed inland, hiking through thick brush, picking up bitter mangoes along the way and stopping to eat green bananas.

Three hours later, they spotted a young farm worker walking with his white dog. He fed them crackers, gave them water and waited until police arrived, the Suskis said.

"We asked if he knew anything about the captain and mate," Kate Suski said. "He said he had seen the news the night before and they hadn't been found at that time. I think we felt a sense of tragedy that we weren't prepared for."

The Suskis were treated in hospital and received intravenous fluids. They learned that the captain and mate were rescued after spending nearly 23 hours in the water.

St Lucia's tourism minister called it a miracle and the island's maritime affairs unit was investigating what caused the boat to sink. Marine police sergeant Finley Leonce said they had already interviewed the captain and police did not suspect foul play or any criminal activity in the sinking of the ship.

A man who answered the phone on Thursday at the Reel Irie company that hired out the vessel declined to comment except to say that he was grateful everyone was safe.

The Suskis were planning to fly back to Miami on Saturday.