The Swedish couple, 70-year-old Stig and 69-year-old Siv Bodin, have been out sailing since 2011, having visited Brazil and the Caribbean and passed through the Panama Canal last Christmas.
Their boat was hit by bad weather on Wednesday about 230km northeast of the Cook Island in South Pacific Ocean. The mast broke straight across the deck as the boat started to drift without control.
The couple then issued an SOS from their emergency beacons PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) which was picked up by a Joint Rescue Co-Coordination Centre (JRCC).
It turned out that the closest vessel was the Stena Paris, being some 280km away. The ship’s captain Sa
chin Srivastava reached the distressed boat after about 13 hours steaming at full speed.
Although weather was bad and it was dark the boat which is equipped with double engines, propellers and rudders managed to manoeuvre well and get the elderly couple out of the boat and onboard the tanker safely.
Stena Paris has since reached Papeete in Tahiti of the French Polynesia, which is where the ship was supposed to be heading.
New Zealand authorities have sent out a warning to other vessels in the area that the S/Y Blue Horizon is still adrift unmanned in the area.
Rescue operations underway to bring the Swedish couple on board product tanker Stena Paris