A luxury cruise ship rescued a French yachtsman Sunday after he spent three days on a life raft in heavy seas in the Southern Ocean. Solo round the world yachtsman Alain Delord, aged 63, abandoned his 11-metre yacht after it lost its mast in a storm on Friday, about 500 nautical miles south west of Tasmania, dpa reported. He set off a distress beacon and climbed into an inflatable life raft. A search and rescue mission was launched from Australia and the raft was spotted from a plane later on Friday. The Australian Maritime Rescue Authority had planes drop supplies to the Frenchman as the raft was too far away to reach by helicopter. The cruise ship MV Orion diverted from an Antarctic voyage and steamed for two days to reach the life raft. The ship's crew spotted the life raft just as it was getting dark and rescued the sailor in rough seas, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. The rescued sailor was reported to be well and would be taken to Hobart.
