US teen sailor rescued from Indian Ocean - June 13, 2010

An American teenage girl was rescued yesterday 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.

Abby Sunderland, 16, was plucked from her damaged yacht by a fishing boat after getting into trouble in a far-flung part of the ocean last Thursday, prompting Australia to scramble aircraft for the search.

"Abby was safely transferred to the French fishing vessel Ile de la Reunion in the early hours of our morning," her parents wrote on the teenager's blog.

"We were able to speak to Abby very briefly once the transfer was complete. She sounded tired but good. She had a good sense of humour but was clearly in the early stages of coming to grips with everything," they added.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority had earlier confirmed Sunderland's rescue from her yacht Wild Eyes at 0945 GMT.

Sunderland had been waiting for the boat since last Friday, when Australian rescuers spotted her from the air and made radio contact. Rough seas and high winds had calmed slightly to a four- to five-metre swell, they said.

"It's been a little bit crazy these past few days. Everything's happened pretty fast but I was really lucky that there was a boat that could come and get me where I was," she said, according to Australian broadcaster ABC.

"When stuff is going on out there you can't really get too scared about it - I mean it doesn't really do any good."

She set sail from California last January despite criticism that her itinerary was too risky because it would place her in the Indian Ocean during the perilous southern hemisphere winter. Her parents said she would now be transferred to another craft and either taken to Perth, Australia, or France's Reunion Island off east Africa.

Her compact 12-metre sailboat, which was equipped with a small bunk bed, a water-maker and a store of freeze-dried food, was abandoned and would likely not be retrieved, her parents added.

The rescue went largely without a hitch, though Reunion officials said the captain of the fishing boat fell into the choppy waters and had to be dragged out of the sea.

Fears for Sunderland's safety mounted after her parents lost contact with her shortly before two emergency beacons on the craft were activated last Thursday.