SYDNEY (AP) – Two people were rescued unharmed on Tuesday after spending a night aboard a disabled yacht in heavy seas off the Australian coast.
The 60-year-old man and a 48-year-old woman were rescued at 7.30am from their 19-metre yacht, which was abandoned 300 kilometres east of the New South Wales state coast, Police Chief Inspector Anthony Brazzill said. The pair were expected to reach Sydney aboard a police boat on Tuesday night.
The pair had activated their emergency beacon around 1pm on Monday, about 185 kilometres east of the New South Wales coastal town of Nowra, police said.
The yacht, “Spirit of Mateship”, had experienced a mechanical failure, lost a rudder, was taking water and was drifting east away from the shore, Brazzill said. With an ocean swell of five to six metres and winds of up 110 kilometres per hour, he said, conditions were considered too dangerous to attempt a rescue in the dark.
An air force C-130 Hercules transport plane flew to the yacht and made radio contact with the two people onboard. A police boat and an Australian navy warship reached the yacht early Tuesday.
Brazzill said a winching rescue by military helicopter was considered, but ruled out as too dangerous because of the sea conditions.
The pair were rescued in a small craft launched from the police boat, he said.
