Newsmaker

Teen sailor found alive and well

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-06-11 08:05

 

LOS ANGELES – A 16-year-old California girl who was feared lost at sea while sailing solo around the world has been found alive and well, adrift in the southern Indian Ocean with rescue boats headed toward her, officials said.

After a tense 20 hours of silence, a Qantas Airbus A330 search plane made contact with Abby Sunderland late Thursday in the south Indian Ocean where her boat was knocked down repeatedly by huge waves and she lost satellite phone contact.

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Qantas Airline spokesman Tom Woodward said the teenager was spotted half way between Australia and Africa and the plane crew spoke with her by radio.

"Abby's in an okay condition; the yacht's damaged but its seaworthy," Woodward told The Associated Press. "She's aware that there are other boats on the way to her location."

Sunderland told searchers she was doing fine with a space heater and at least two weeks worth of food, family spokesman William Bennett said.

Support team member Jeff Casher said the boat had gotten knocked on its side several times and the mast had broken.

The French regional administration on the island of Reunion also confirmed contact, which occurred Friday in that region of the Indian Ocean, and said it had sent three boats in her direction, the first expected to reach her on Saturday.

The communication with Sunderland was the first since satellite phone communications were lost and her emergency beacons began signaling early Thursday.

She had made several broken calls to her family in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and reported her yacht was being tossed by 30-foot (9-meter) waves.

The 11 observers aboard the plane, which left the western Australian city of Perth early Friday, spoke with her by close-range VHF marine radio, western Australia state police spokesman Senior Sgt. Graham Clifford said, adding that the crew couldn't drop her anything.

He said the jet faced a 4,700-mile (7,600-kilometer) round trip from Perth to Sunderland's boat, which is near the limit of its range.

Abby's family and support team had expressed confidence that she was alive because the beacons were deliberately turned on rather than set off automatically.

"She's got all the skills she needs to take care of what she has to take care of, she has all the equipment as well," said brother Zac, himself a veteran of a solo sail around the world at age 17.