Mobile phone saves 3 drifting in sea for 22 days

The trio -- a father, his son and a nephew -- were winched to safety by an Australian rescue helicopter late Tuesday after managing to send mobile phone text messages to relatives with their approximate location, police said.

It was the second extraordinary rescue in Australia on Tuesday following the safe release early in the day of miners Brant Webb and Todd Russell who were trapped almost a kilometre underground at a Tasmanian gold mine for two weeks.