Shipwreck pair stuck on island

Storms are preventing the evacuation of a New Zealand man and his Australian companion from a Vietnamese island where they are recovering from 11 days adrift at sea.

Stephen Freeman of Nelson and Mark Smith of Hobart have resigned themselves to the likelihood they will spend Christmas on the island of Ly Son, said a spokesman at the New Zealand embassy in Hanoi.

The men abandoned their yacht just after leaving Hong Kong on December 5 and survived their ordeal in stormy seas by licking moisture from their liferaft and drinking urine.