Sailor in a broken boat with cat rescued; Spent 7 months in ocean

A Polish sailor has been rescued by French coast guard in the Indian Ocean. According to the sailor he spent seven months with his cat in a broken down boat.

The 54-year-old who said, he took to the sea in his makeshift vessel from the Comoros Islands off the coast of Mozambique in May with the aim of reaching South Africa.

The journey of more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) would have seen him travel south down the Mozambique Channel, a busy shipping route with strong currents for his vessel, a modified lifeboat from a cruise ship.

Instead of reaching South Africa, he was plucked from the waves well off-course, near the French island of Reunion, on Sunday after being spotted by the crew of a yacht.

The instruments on his boat had been smashed and the man had no means of communication, France's SNSM coast guard service said.

The sailor said he and his cat survived on half a packet of Chinese soup per day as well as what he caught by fishing.