Croatians Rescue New Zealand Sailor From Death in Atlantic Ocean

Crew on board a Croatian ship have been called heroes after they rescued a New Zealand sailor from certain death when he got into trouble in the Atlantic Ocean, reports daily 24sata…

Kiwi Gareth Doran thought he was going to die when his sailing yacht was damaged by a heavy storm whilst he was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean last month. With his boat starting to sink Doran thought there would be no saving him, until his call for help was answered by the crew from the ship Lady Račišće – from the Croatian island of Korčula.

The brave Croatian seamen sailed through 8-metre high waves and strong winds to save the desperate New Zealand sailor.

“It was not easy with a 155-metre ship to come close to the yacht in the wavey ocean,” said the owners of the Lady Račišće, adding that the rescue mission took around 4 hours to complete.

“Ship ladders could not be lowered. They let a net down by the side of the ship which I firmly caught jumping from my sailboat on it,” said Doran, who was afraid he was going to fall, but the Croatian sailors quickly retreated the net and dragged him to safety. A few minutes after Doran left the yacht it had sunk in the Atlantic.

Doran was on a transatlantic adventure on his 8.8 metre yacht and was sailing between Spain and Barbados when he got into trouble.