American teen sailor rescued - GlobalTimes

American Abby Sunderland, 16, on her vessel Wild Eyes in the Indian Ocean on Friday after Australia scrambled a chartered passenger jet from Perth to scour the seas for her. Photo: AFP

An American teenage girl was rescued Saturday after a botched attempt to sail solo round the world left her drifting for two nights in rough Indian Ocean seas, sparking an international emergency.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said it sent a new aircraft to the remote southern Indian Ocean, where the yacht Wild Eyes was spotted Friday, to regain radio contact and help coordinate the rescue.

Abby Sunderland, 16, left the United States in January on a widely criticized attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Her yacht ran into trouble Thursday as it was pounded by huge waves midway between Africa and Australia.

Rescuers who flew over the area Friday said the yacht had lost its mast, but Sunderland had reported it was not taking on any water.

The ship Ile de la Reunion, from France's Indian Ocean island possession of Reunion, was en route to the area and was expected to arrive today, with two more ships due to arrive tomorrow.

The search for Sunderland involved Australian, US and French rescue authorities sending ships and a commercial airliner to an area about 2,000 miles southwest of Australia.

An Australian rescue team aboard a Qantas Airbus A330- 300 aircraft spent around two hours in the area Saturday.

Members of the search party said Sunderland's first words to them were "This is Abby," and she appeared to be in good spirits, in comments posted on Sunderland's official blog (sol-oround.blogspot.com).

"It was just a very small dot on the ocean - she was on the back deck," Sergeant Mike Wear of Western Australia's state water police said in comments posted on the site.