A 52-year-old Lithuanian sailor was found alive on Tuesday evening off the Austral archipelago, around 16 hours after he fell from a ship, reported the Papeete Sea Rescue Center, which coordinates rescue at sea. in French Polynesia.
Tuesday morning, the service vessel Silver Supporter alerted the JRCC to the disappearance of its chief engineer, absent for breakfast.
The ship turned around, while the Papeete Sea Rescue Center alerted the other boats and sent a Navy aircraft over the area.
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"His health check is positive"
Thanks to the calculations of the center, establishing a drift towards the north-west, the freighter found the sailor, a 52-year-old Lithuanian in the south of the Austral archipelago.
"He spent 16 hours in the water, but his health check is positive, even though he is dehydrated," the center said.
“Around 2 am, he filled his mechanic diary and does not know what happened, he went overboard,” Thomas Domenichini, coordinator of the rescue mission, told AFP.
Coming from New Zealand, the Silver Supporter resumed his journey towards the Pitcairn Islands.