A 16-year-old California girl trying to sail solo around the world is safe and well after a massive search and rescue was launched in the Indian Ocean when she triggered distress signals, her parents and Australian authorities said on Friday.
Her parents had lost contact with teenage adventurer Abby Sunderland on Thursday as her yacht Wild Eyes was pounded by huge waves in the remote southern Indian Ocean, but an Australian plane flew over her on Friday and made contact with the girl, Australian authorities said.
A French fishing vessel was on the way to rescue the young American, who began her trip in January, her parents said.
“The aircraft spoke to her, they told her that help was on the way, and she sounds like she is in good health,” said Mick Kinley of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority in Canberra.
“She is going to hang in there until the vessel can get to her in about 24 hours,” Kinley told a news conference.
The search involved Australia, US and French rescue authorities sending ships and a commercial airliner to an area about 2,000 miles (3,219 km) southeast of Madagascar and 2,000 miles southwest of Australia.
“The boat is upright but the rigging is all down, which means she was probably rolled by a rogue wave. But she reported that she was fine. She seems to be in good spirits, but that is all we really know for sure,” Marianne Sunderland, the girl’s mother, told US cable television network CNN.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said conditions in the area were poor, with 56 mph (90 kph) winds and an 18ft (six metre) swell.
“It’s a huge relief, obviously. There is a great deal of jubilation and elation that Abigail is safe,” Laurence Sunderland, her father, told CNN.
“The severe weather conditions that she was experiencing the day before this all happened have abated. We’re confident that when the fishing vessel arrives alongside that she’ll have about 10 to 15 knots of wind and there will be a successful rescue.”
Sunderland had hoped to become the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe alone nonstop but had to give up her chance at that record when she was forced to pull into a port at Cape Town, South Africa, for repairs to her boat.