The British woman who went missing in Spain after hiring a boat on the paradise island of Formentera on Tuesday 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 motorboat to the rental firm at Formentera’s La Savina port as scheduled.
Today, it emerged she had 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. The Civil Guard has not yet issued an official statement, although they confirmed today that the woman had been found alive.
The coastguard has towed the vessel she lost her way in, a cream-coloured Quicksilver 475 Axess with a Mercury outboard motor, to Ibiza. After it emerged that she was missing, the woman was named locally as Mary Gavin.
Police divers were incorporated into the search for her on Thursday after Civil Guard and Spanish coastguard helicopters and boats were mobilised.
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.”
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.”
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.
A Spanish Coastguard spokeswoman said they had received an alert about the missing Brit just after 8.30pm on Wednesday and had immediately mobilised a helicopter and boat to assist in the search.
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.