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US teen sailor awaits rescue
AFP - 2 hours 56 minutes ago
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US teen sailor awaits rescue
SYDNEY (AFP) - – Australian authorities were to fly to the stricken yacht of a 16-year-old solo sailor stranded in the remote Indian Ocean Saturday to make radio contact ahead of her rescue by a French ship.
An international rescue effort was scrambled Thursday after Abby Sunderland activated two emergency beacons when her yacht "Wild Eyes" was dismasted in wild seas during a treacherous winter crossing of the ocean.
Fears for the girl's safety mounted after her parents lost contact with her via satellite phone shortly before the beacons were activated.
An Australian passenger jet carrying professional spotters and rescue experts sighted her 40-foot yacht late Friday and established radio contact with the teen.
Though reported to be in good health, Sunderland spent the night alone in rough seas awaiting rescue by a French fishing vessel, "Ile de la Reunion", which was due to reach her around 0700 GMT, officials said.
"Abby is in very good spirits," Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia taskforce leader Will Blackshaw was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the sailor's blog by her family.
Blackshaw said the crew of the "spotter" plane had a very brief period of contact with the sailor, but said she remained positive.
"The window of opportunity to speak to her was very short, so we had very brief, direct conversations about her health, the condition of the vessel, and her communications."
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said it dispatched an intercontinental jet Saturday morning to locate Sunderland and again make radio contact ahead of her rescue.
"In preparation for the arrival on scene of the fishing vessel Ile De La Reunion, anticipated for late this afternoon, Australia has tasked a Global Express aircraft to the scene," AMSA said.
"The aircraft will attempt to regain radio contact with Wild Eyes ahead of the planned rescue."
The Global Express jet, which can fly long distances without refuelling, would monitor Sunderland's rescue by the French ship.
AMSA said it was monitoring the drifting yacht's position some 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) from Australia's west coast via her distress beacons, which were still transmitting.
Conditions had "improved slightly with 30-35 knot winds and a four-to-five metre swell," AMSA added.
The rescue mission was initially coordinated by authorities on French-administered Reunion Island, off eastern Africa, but Sunderland had since drifted into Australia's search and rescue zone and AMSA said it was now overseeing the operation.
A patrol craft and a trade vessel were also diverted to the spot by Reunion officials and were due to arrive on Sunday.
"It is possible that Ms Sunderland will be taken to La Reunion, but the precise details will depend on the circumstances facing the rescue vessels later in the weekend," AMSA said.
After expressing relief that their daughter had been found safe, Sunderland's parents rejected criticism of their child's attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world.
"The fact is whether a teenager, or a young adult or a middle-aged person, there have been many rescues that have taken place," her father Laurence Sunderland told NBC television's Today programme.
He cited the example of French yachtswoman Isabelle Autissier, rescued from her capsized yacht in the southern Pacific Ocean in 1999 during the solo round-the-world race.
"Do we say that she shouldn't go out there and sail or that nobody should go out and sail because you face hard knocks and sometimes people need to be rescued? I don't think so," Sunderland said.
"This is more of a testimony to (Abby's) will to survive and deal with the situation than a travesty that she went out there at all."
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