Tapio Lehtinen drifts at sea in a life raft.
Tapio Lehtinen had to abandon his Asteria boat. PIERRE OLLIER
A round-the-world sailor Tapio Lehtinen had to abandon his sinking ship in the Indian Ocean on Friday morning Finnish time.
Lehtinen was competing in the Golden Globe Race when the accident happened.
A sailor adrift on a life raft has been rescued. Iltalehti follows the progress of the operation in this article.
The map below shows the location of Lehtinen in the southeast of South Africa.
Live monitoring
That’s how it all started
Golden Globe Race reported on Friday afternoon on Facebookthat a distress signal has been sent from Lehtinen’s ship.
The Golden Globe Race was initially unable to contact Lehtinen. The distress signal was sent from the Indian Ocean about 720 kilometers southeast of Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
The South African authorities are assisting in the rescue mission, Golden Globe race says.
A little later it was reported that Lehtinen’s boat had sunk. The man communicates via text messages from the life raft.
His device transmits the location to emergency authorities. It is difficult for Lehtinen to read and write messages, because he has lost his glasses. Lehtinen has an emergency bag and a rescue suit.
In the Facebook update of the Golden Globe Race, a commentator specializing in sailing said that Lehtinen got to a good life raft. He has an EPIRB emergency locator and communication device with him. The rescuers from Cape Town are approaching the Finn.
Sailing around the world
The Golden Globe Race is a sailing competition where competitors sail alone around the world. There are a total of 16 participants in the competition this year.
Lehtinen finished fifth in the previous 2018 Golden Globe Race.
Lehtinen, 64, from Helsinki, has been sailing since he was six years old. Her children Lauri Lehtinen and Silja Lehtinen are both Olympic sailors. Silja Lehtinen’s boat crew won bronze at the London Olympics in 2012.