A man and two children have spent the night marooned on an island off the central Queensland coast after a catamaran voyage went wrong on Friday afternoon.
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A 46-year-old man, 12-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy left Mulambin Beach near Yeppoon about 1.30pm on a 14-foot catamaran and were on their way to the South Point of Great Keppel Island.
But when the trio failed to reach their destination on Friday, a search was launched involving water police, aircraft from Cairns, the Rescue 300 Helicopter and SES volunteers patrolling beaches.
The operation focused the beaches in the Yeppoon and Great Keppel Island, but moved further south on Saturday.
The increase in search area paid off, with the catamaran and three on board found by aircraft stranded on the beach at Divided Island about 6am on Saturday.
The catamaran left Mulambin Beach about 1.30pm on Friday.<\/p>\n",colour:"blue", title:"Starting Point", maxWidth:200, open:1}, {lat:-23.19788, lon:150.93884, text:"
The boat with three on board was meant to arrive at the South Point of Great Keppel Island.<\/p>\n",colour:"orange", title:"Destination", maxWidth:200, open:0}, {lat:-23.30095, lon:150.92231, text:"
The man and two children were found at the beach on Divided Island about 6am on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n",colour:"red", title:"Location", maxWidth:200, open:0}] ); } if (!window.googleMaps_Icons) window.googleMaps_Icons = {}; window.googleMaps_Icons["blue"] = {"marker":{"image":"http://maps.gstatic.com/mapfiles/ms2/micons/blue-pushpin.png"},"shadow":{"image":"http://maps.gstatic.com/mapfiles/ms2/micons/pushpin_shadow.png"}}; window.googleMaps_Icons["red"] = {"marker":{"image":"http://maps.gstatic.com/mapfiles/ms2/micons/red-pushpin.png"},"shadow":{"image":"http://maps.gstatic.com/mapfiles/ms2/micons/pushpin_shadow.png"}}; if (!window.gmapsLoaders) window.gmapsLoaders = []; window.gmapsLoaders.push(CreateGMapgmap201701481353); window.gmapsAutoload=true; /*]]>*/ ]]>
The vessel was towed to Roslyn Bay Harbour, near where it set off from on Friday and the man, girl and boy were transported to Rockhampton Base Hospital with minor injuries.
The cause of the vessel ending up about 15 kilometres off course is unknown.
