Baby among eight passengers saved after their catamaran capsized off the Queensland coast

A six-month-old baby is among four children and four adults rescued from a catamaran after it capsized off the Central Queensland coast.

The family drifted, clinging onto a dinghy for an hour-and-a-half before the crew of a nearby cargo ship came to their aid.

The boat started taking on water and sinking about 77 kilometres east of Yeppoon, before the family abandoned the vessel.

Passengers donned lifejackets and abandoned the boat, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said in a statement.

The first call for assistance was received by paramedics about 10am and an EPIRB was activated about half-an-hour later.

At 12pm AMSA was informed that all eight people had been recovered from the water by the merchant vessel RTM Twarra.

"AMSA wishes to thank the crew of the RTM Twarra for their help in this successful rescue," a spokesperson for AMSA said.

Paramedics said all eight were assessed by a QAS flight critical care paramedic and no injuries were sustained.

Water police and the coast guard were also alerted to the incident