Two Vietnamese migrants who landed in far north Queensland this week were given a particularly Australian welcome after being rescued by local fisherman on Monday.
When Barry Preston and Justin Ward found the two men in mangroves near the Daintree River they offered them a beer and took them crabbing.
"When they got in the boat ... there was a croc on the bank and we pointed it out and they said 'oh geez'. It [was] probably a 14-footer," Mr Preston told the Cairns Post.
"Lucky they didn't make a dash for it."
"We gave them a ride up the river and had a few laughs. Got them to help us to pull in a few crab pots," he told the network.
We gave them a ride up the river and had a few laughs. FISHERMAN JUSTIN WARD
He said the pair "were taking photos and taking selfies".
"I wasn't exactly sure what we were all talking about all the time but everyone was laughing."
But after the laughs, the fisherman told the men the sad news - they would have to hand them in to the authorities.
A boat carrying the migrants is understood to have come from Vietnam before running aground off Cape Kimberley, near the Daintree River, on Sunday.
Two men on the people smuggling boat were arrested by Queensland Police. Source: SBS News
Locals raised the alarm after witnessing a large group of people fleeing the sinking vessel and swimming to a nearby beach.
It's unclear whether the group who fled the boat were asylum seekers or illegal fishers, but Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said it was the first time in almost four years a people smuggling boat had made it to Australian shores.
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1400天来第一批偷渡客抵达昆士兰
