Two critically injured men have been fortuitously rescued from a Queensland island after washed up luggage led emergency services to their underwater helicopter wreckage.
The pair, aged 56 and 61, were stranded on Curtis Island, south of Rockhampton, after their private charter crashed some time around midday on Friday.
It was not known they were missing until the RACQ rescue helicopter went to inspect reports of debris and personal items washed up on the coastline about noon on Saturday.
A piece of luggage belonging to one of the men, who had been on a fishing trip, led police to realise a Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter had not arrived at its planned destination.
Retracing the missing charter's flight plan and equipped with night vision goggles, RACQ crew were able to find the submerged wreckage at the mouth of Keppel Creek just after midnight on Sunday.
The two severely dehydrated survivors were found lying on a nearby beach shortly after.
One of the men had to be plucked from the path of the rising crocodile-infested tide, where he had been unable to move from because of a spinal injury.
The 56-year-old Margate man and 61-year-old Scarborough man were flown to Rockhampton Base Hospital for further treatment.
The cause of the crash is not known but it is believed the helicopter experienced mechanical issues before ditching in the water.
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