Five crew members marooned on a tiny island off the coast of Queensland, Australia were saved Monday after they carved out an SOS in the sand.

The three men and two women became stranded on the rocky outcrop, located 20 miles northeast of Mackay city, when their boat drifted away, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. The crew remained on the island for nine hours until a helicopter spotted the huge SOS in the sand.

"We saw the helicopter and we thought, 'Oh you beauty,' and then it disappeared and we thought, 'Oh no- we better look out for our beds for the night,'- then it came back probably 20 minutes later," Craig Gilbert, who was rescued from the island, told ABC.

The crew was on the rocky outcrop to explore and gather shells when the boat floated away, the New York Daily News reported.

"So we're there having a feed on the oysters and I happen to look back and I can see that the boat is drifting," Gilbert said according to the Daily News. "I sprinted off down the sandbar and threw my hat and shoes off."

Gilbert attempted to swim to the boat but swam back because it was too far.

Queensland water police first spotted the group's boat adrift near an island northeast of Mackay. A search was issued after no one was found onboard. It wasn't until several hours later that a rescue helicopter saw the SOS, ABC reported.

The rescue helicopter recovered all five castaways, treating them for sunburn and dehydration.

"They were fine- they weren't injured," Damien Kross, a crewman from the helicopter, told ABC.

"They were a little bit dehydrated but we winched them to safety and brought them back here for just to have a quick medical attention and they were all fine," Kross said.