Watch: 3 people spend 24 hours adrift, fend off sharks before being rescued

The US Coast Guard says two people from a sunken fishing boat were fending off sharks in the Gulf of Mexico when a crew rescued them and one other person from waters off the Louisiana coastline.

The Coast Guard launched a search after a relative reported the three people failed to return from a fishing trip Saturday evening.

The 24-foot (7.3-meter), center-console fishing boat sank at about 10 a.m. Saturday and stranded the three people without communication devices, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

Also Watch| 22 killed in massive landslide in Venezuela

The three were wearing lifejackets and one was showing signs of hypothermia when they were rescued Sunday about 25 miles (40.2 kilometers) offshore from Empire, Louisiana — a small community southeast of New Orleans.

The news release said a Coast Guard boat crew saw two of the people fending off sharks, and both of them had injured hands. The crew pulled them from the water, and the two were lifted onto a helicopter. The helicopter crew lifted the third boater from the water.

The two injured people were taken to University Medical Center New Orleans, where they were listed as stable. The Coast Guard did not release their names.