Dramatic moment Brit woman saved after being lost at sea for five days
This is the astonishing moment a Brit missing for nearly five days at sea is rescued after making a desperate sign to a passing ship. A huge search and operation was deployed for missing Mary Gavin, 39, last Wednesday, after she vanished on a rented boat a day before on the Mediterranean island of Formentera.
Remarkably, she was rescued on Saturday afternoon after a ferry from Palma, Majorca, to the mainland Spanish east coast city of Valencia spotted her and raised the alarm.
One of the passengers on the boat that discovered the Mary and her small boat recalled the stunning moment they neared her as she called out for help, saying: 'She was dehydrated and sunburnt and had mouth sores. The waves complicated the rescue.'
Alejandro Rosera told Majorcan media outlet Cronica Balear: 'When we were about to pass by Formentera, we were told there was an emergency and we had to turn back.
'Later on we saw a woman on board a small boat. She had a life jacket on and another in her hand making gestures.
'It took about 40 minutes to get her onto our ship. The movement of the waves made the rescue more difficult. She had mouth sores and you could tell she was dehydrated so she was given water and a Coca Cola.
'Once we got to Valencia a large number of police and health professionals were waiting for her and assisted her immediately.'
News of the 5pm rescue on Saturday of the Brit emerged on Sunday morning when police confirmed Mary had been taken to hospital in Valencia.
The vessel she had lost her way in, a cream-coloured Quicksilver 475 Axess with a Mercury outboard motor which she had hired from a rental firm at Formentera's La Savina Port last Tuesday morning, was towed to Ibiza by coastguards.
Police divers had joined the search for her last Thursday after Civil Guard and Spanish coastguards helicopters and boats were mobilised.
Speaking on Sunday morning a Civil Guard spokesman said: 'The British woman who vanished after renting a boat in Formentera on Tuesday morning has been found alive.'
The police force had said on Friday in its first official comments about the disappearance: 'The missing woman is a 39-year-old British national who hired the boat in the port of La Savina in Formentera on Tuesday morning.
'She was supposed to return it around 6pm on Wednesday and when she didn't her friends became worried and raised the alarm. From the time she was reported missing on Wednesday evening a search operation was launched which continued throughout the day yesterday.
'She hasn't been found yet nor has the boat she was on.
'The Civil Guard's Judicial Police unit has been investigating this woman's disappearance but two vessels belonging to our Maritime Unit were mobilised yesterday along with one from the specialist sub-aquatic GEAS unit.
'The officers from the Maritime Unit conduct the searches from speedboats and the GEAS are essentially diving specialists.'
A police source said last week the missing woman had been living on one of the Balearic islands for around two months, although it was not immediately clear if the island is Ibiza or Formentera.
No more details have been given out by local authorities about what they think went wrong and why the woman ended up adrift and in difficulties.
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