69-year-old sailor survives 11 days adrift in Mediterranean
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- A 69-year-old man was rescued in the Mediterranean after being adrift in a sailboat for at least 11 days.
- The sailor departed from Gandia, Spain, on a 150km journey, but went missing, prompting a search that was later called off.
- A Frontex plane spotted him near Algeria, and the "Thor Confidence" rescued him; he was reported to be "in good condition."
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MADRID – Spanish maritime rescuers on Jan 28 said a man had been saved in the Mediterranean after miraculously surviving at least 11 days adrift alone in a sailboat.
The 69-year-old had left the eastern Spanish port of Gandia for the town of Guardamar del Segura, a journey of around 150km, a spokesman for the maritime rescue service told AFP.
Boats and planes were deployed in a rescue mission with “numerous resources” on Jan 17.
But the fruitless search ended on Jan 22 and appeals were sent to vessels navigating in the area.
As hopes faded, on Jan 27 a plane belonging to European Union border agency Frontex “spotted the sailboat and a person who was making signs and calling for help” around 53 nautical miles north-east of Bejaia in Algeria.
A nearby ship, the Singapore-flagged bulk carrier Thor Confidence, rescued him and is set to take him to the southern Spanish port city of Algeciras on Jan 29.
The sailor was “in good condition”.
The maritime rescue service published pictures on social media showing a small, white sailboat bobbing in the sea and attached to the larger ship.
It was unclear how the sailboat ended up drifting hundreds of kilometres from its intended route or how the man survived for so long on the high seas. AFP
