Australian Taxpayers Pay For Rescue Of US Teen Sailor
Posted on 13 June 2010 by LynThomas in sports
The Australian government has confirmed it cannot recover the cost of rescuing United States teen sailor, Abby Sunderland,16, after her boat was demasted and crippled in the Indian Ocean.
Abby was put aboard the French fishing vessel, Ile De La Reunion, heading to the French archipelago Kerguelen Islands.
Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia couldn’t send Abby and her backers a bill even if it wanted to. “That’s not the way the law works. The Australian taxpayer at the end of the day makes a contribution.”
He went on to say “We have to put this in context – if there was an Australian lost at sea we would want every effort to be made to save that person.” The search fell just outside of Australia’s search and rescue region.
Abby Johnson' boat Abandoned
A chartered Qantas plane was sent from Perth to search for Abby about 3700km off the coast of Western Australia. It located her 12m yacht, Wild Eyes, within four hours of being put in charge of the rescue. It’s been reported the Qantas charter cost $10,000 an hour.
Albanese said the episode proved Australia was a world leader in search and rescue. “We can be very proud of the efforts of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. They have pulled off a remarkable rescue.”
The US ambassador called Albanese yesterday to thank the nation for its efforts.
Abbey says she will make another attempt to sail solo, nonstop, around the world, following three ‘crazy days’, after being lost in a storm in the turbulent Indian Ocean.
Abbey left Los Angeles on January 23rd, in the hope of being the youngest to circumnavigate the globe solo and unassisted, attempting to beat Australian Jessica Watson.
In facing her growing number of critics Abbey said, “Storms are part of the deal when you set out to sail around the world. As for age, since when does age create gigantic waves and storms?”
Abbey’s father, a boat builder, said his daughter had thousands of miles of solo sailing experience, before she began her solo attempt. He said she simply ‘caught a bad wave’.
During the rescue operation the captain of the French fishing boat fell into the water and had to be rescued. It is not clear whether the French vessel will seek compensation.
Australian lone sailor, Jessica Watson, completed her unofficial solo circumnavigation of the globe on May 15th, three days before her 17th birthday. Unofficial, because Guinness World Record have now removed the ‘oldest and youngest’ categories of solo circumnavigation. Jesse Martin, from Melbourne, Australia, achieved the solo unassisted record in 1999, aged 18.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] The Australian government has confirmed it will be unable to recover the cost of rescuing U.S.A teen sailor, Abby Sunderland,16, after her boat was crippled in a storm in the Indian Ocean. Read how the French captain of the rescue boat also had to be rescued… [...]