Elderly sailor survives 11 days adrift in Mediterranean
The 69-year-old had left the eastern Spanish port of Gandia for the town of Guardamar del Segura, a journey of around 150 kilometres.
MADRID - Spanish maritime rescuers on Wednesday said an elderly 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 150 kilometres (93 miles), a spokesman for the maritime rescue service told AFP.
Boats and planes were deployed in a rescue mission with "numerous resources" on January 17. But the fruitless search ended on Jan 22 and appeals were sent to vessels navigating in the area.
As hopes faded, on Tuesday a plane belonging to EU border agency Frontex "spotted the sailboat and a person who was making signs and calling for help" around 53 nautical miles northeast 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 Thursday.
The elderly 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 nor how the man survived for so long on the high seas. - AFP
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