A fisherman swam 12 hours to reach the shore while another survived 30 hours at sea until a helicopter spotted him yesterday after their trawler sank off the Australian coast, rescuers said.

"I wasn't going to die out there mate," said a sunburnt and dehydrated John Jarratt from his hospital bed, after spending 30 hours in the water clinging to a fish-sorting bin.

A third fisherman is still missing.