The British woman who went missing after hiring a boat on the paradise island of Formentera in the Balearic Islands has been rescued alive.
A major search operation swung into place on Wednesday evening after the 39-year-old failed to return the 15-foot motor boat to the rental firm at Formentera’s La Savina port as scheduled.
Now it has emerged the woman, named locally as Mary Gavin, has been rescued adrift by a ferry covering the Ibiza to Valencia route.
She is understood to have been transferred to a hospital in Valencia to receive medical attention. Her condition this morning was not immediately clear.
The rescue is said to have occurred around 5pm yesterday. There has not yet been any official statement from the Civil Guard although they confirmed today the woman had been found alive.
The vessel she had lost her way in, a cream-coloured Quicksilver 475 Axess with a Mercury outboard motor, has been towed to Ibiza by coastguards.
Speaking this morning a Civil Guard spokesman said: ‘The British woman who vanished after hiring a boat in Formentera on Tuesday morning has been found alive.’
A police source said last week the missing woman had been living on one of the Balearic islands for around two months, although it was not immediately clear if the island is Ibiza or Formentera.
Mary Gavin has been rescued adrift by a ferry covering the Ibiza to Valencia route after she went missing on Wednesday
Llevant beach on the paradise island of Formentera (stock image)
Police have not yet said exactly where the woman was when she was rescued or explained how she managed to go so badly adrift.
It is not clear how much experience she had at sea.
A Spanish Coastguard spokeswoman said they had received an alert about the missing Brit just after 8.30pm on Wednesday.
The rescue follows days of extensive searches, with police divers getting involved on Thursday after Civil Guard and Spanish coastguard helicopters and boats were mobilised.
The rental firm, named locally as Helix Charter Formentera, is understood to have participated in the searches.
Messages were also sent to other mariners in the area with descriptions of the vessel, as police and coastguards asked them to be on the lookout.
The police force had said on Friday in its first official comments about the disappearance: ‘The missing woman is a 39-year-old British national who hired the boat in the port of La Salina in Formentera on Tuesday morning.
‘She was supposed to return it around 6pm on Wednesday and when she didn’t her friends became worried and raised the alarm.
‘From the time she was reported missing on Wednesday evening a search operation was launched which continued throughout the day yesterday.
‘She hasn’t been found yet nor has the boat she was on.
‘The Civil Guard’s Judicial Police unit has been investigating this woman’s disappearance but two vessels belonging to our Maritime Unit were mobilised yesterday along with one from the specialist sub-aquatic GEAS unit.
‘The officers from the Maritime Unit conduct the searches from speedboats and the GEAS are essentially diving specialists.’
