The water ingress on the catamaran was so severe that the 60-year-old's only option was to flee to the life raft. Using a satellite phone, the Frenchman managed to make a distress call and report his approximate position: around 160 nautical miles off the Seychelles island of Mahé.
The French sea rescuers (CROSS) from La Réunion then diverted a French Air Force aircraft, which was able to locate the life raft and circled the area until it was relieved by a military aircraft from the Seychelles.
During the course of the rescue operation, a liveaboard was directed to the casualty. After a total of eight hours, the exhausted and, by his own admission, "very thirsty" man was finally rescued and brought to the island of Desroches. The sailor had not been able to get any provisions or drinking water onto his life raft.
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After a thorough examination by a doctor, the rescued man was flown to Mahé, from where his return to France is being organised.
