A SAILOR was rescued off the Western Australian coast over the weekend after the Australian Maritime Safety Authority diverted a nearby bulk carrier.
The sailor, an Austrian national, was found around 110 kilometres west of Kalbarri, a town in the Mid West region.
He was sailing from Indonesia to Fremantle aboard an 11-metre catamaran when his vessel capsized.
AMSA co-ordinated the search and rescue after the man used multiple distress alerting methods to indicate he required assistance.
AMSA said its response centre deployed Perth-based Challenger rescue aircraft and diverted bulk carrier MV Seapearl to conduct a search.
Vessel tracking services indicate the Marshall Islands-flagged ship was on its way from Kwinana to Singapore at the time.
“The man was found and rescued from the tender to his catamaran by MV Seapearl in very challenging weather conditions,” AMSA said in a statement.
“We thank MV Seapearl for their co-operation.”
This is the second time in recent weeks AMSA has diverted a ship to rescue a solo sailor in the Indian Ocean.
On 22 August, bulk carrier Haizhu Flourish was involved in the rescue of a kayaker caught in bad weather en route from Broome to Christmas Island.
