Air Canada helps find troubled yacht off Australia
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Buy SPH photosTORONTO (AP) - An Air Canada passenger flight bound for Sydney helped pinpoint the location of a yacht in trouble off the coast of Australia.
A solo yachtsman left Pittwater, on Sydney's northern beaches, two weeks ago heading for Eden on the New South Wales south coast. An emergency beacon was activated early on Tuesday with the man reporting that his boat had been drifting away from land.
Because of the remote location, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority asked two airliners passing over the man's GPS position to confirm his whereabouts.
An Air Canada Boeing 777 flying from Vancouver diverted from its course to check on the distressed yacht. Air Canada said its plane swooped down at about 1,200 meters while the crew peered out using binoculars borrowed from passengers.
