French fishing vessel rescued a California teenager Saturday from her crippled sailboat in the turbulent southern Indian Ocean, bringing relief to her family but ending her around-the-world sailing effort.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority confirmed the rescue Saturday afternoon more than 2,000 miles from the western Australia coast, two days after the 16-year-old lost communications with her family and sent out a distress signal.
Her boat abandoned,
Sunderland will spend at least a week on a series of boats headed for …Â Details
Abby Sunderland, 16, is alive and apparently well, floundering in rough seas in the Indian Ocean without a mast, but safely aboard her 40-foot boat and awaiting the arrival of rescue ships.
An Australian plane with 11 trained observers found Sunderland, who on Thursday had activated two emergency distress beacons signaling an international rescue attempt, not long after daybreak Friday. Its crewmade contact with her on a marine radio channel.
The mariner from Thousand Oaks, Calif., who had been attempting to become the youngest person to have sailed around the world alone, had lost has mast and rigging after her vessel apparently …Â Details