A 62-year-old Frenchman survived for 16 hours in an air bubble inside his sailboat that capsized in the Atlantic Ocean, 14 miles from the Sisargas Islands, off the coast of Spain’s northwestern Galicia region. . He was rescued by divers from the Spanish coast guard in what they described as a “borderline impossible” operation. The Guardian.
The Jeanne Solo Sailor, a 12-meter sailboat, launched a distress signal at 8.23pm on Monday. She had set sail from the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, on Sunday morning. As a rescue ship with five divers set sail, one of the three helicopters sent to help with the search located the overturned boat as the sun went down. A diver climbed onto the hull to look for signs of life and the man inside responded to his blows by knocking from inside.
With the sea too rough to attempt a rescue, the coast guard attached flotation balloons to the boat to prevent it from sinking further and waited until morning. The man was brought to safety by plane and taken to hospital for examination, but was discharged shortly after without problems.