“On the edge of the impossible, in an operation against the clock, with rough seas, at night, 15 miles from the coast and in the middle of nowhere,” was how the Spanish coastguards described the dramatic rescue. The sailor, who has not been named, sent a distress signal on Monday at around 20:30 local time from the slowly sinking 12m Jeanne Solo Sailor. Tracking data showed he had set sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on Sunday morning and had reached about 23 kilometers from the Sisargas Islands off Spain’s northwest Galicia region when he ran into problems with his boat.
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Story continues below ad The Frenchman found an air bubble trapped under his boat and waited for help. After receiving his distress signal, the Spanish coastguard deployed a rescue ship with five divers and three helicopters to search for the missing man. One of the helicopters spotted the overturned vessel in choppy waters just as the sun was setting. Trending Stories
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A video shared by the Spanish coast guard shows a member of the rescue team lowering himself onto the overturned vessel and tapping the hull to see if the sailor was still alive. Fortunately, it was still responsive and the sailor knocked on the ship from the inside to let the rescuer know it was there. “Every life we save is our greatest reward” This was the rescue carried out yesterday by Maritime Rescue of the crew member of the French sailing vessel JEANNE SOLO SAILOR who was in the sun 14 miles NW of the Sisargas Islands. pic.twitter.com/gqobWTSoWc — SEA SAVE (@salvamentogob) August 3, 2022 Story continues below ad By the time the Coast Guard had located the sailor, the Atlantic waters were rough and choppy and visibility was low because the sun had set. Rescuers decided it was too dangerous to attempt a rescue, so they attached buoyancy balloons to the ship’s hull to prevent it from sinking further. Around 12 noon local time on Tuesday, divers managed to pull the sailor from his overturned boat. Two divers swam below the vessel and found the sailor wearing a neoprene survival suit and submerged up to his knees in water.
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Vicente Cobelo, a member of the coast guard’s special operations team, told a local station that the man then jumped into the icy water and swam under the boat to surface. “On his own initiative he entered the water and dived freely, helped by the divers who had to pull him because it was difficult for him to get out in his suit,” said Compello. The man was airlifted to safety and taken to the hospital for medical evaluation and was released immediately afterward without issue. “Every life we save is our greatest reward,” the Coast Guard said. 0:36 Four sailors rescued from Juan de Fuca Strait after capsizing of boats Previous Video Next Video
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