Abby Sunderland is trying to sail solo around the world and had reached the halfway point Monday.
[Updated at 7:24 p.m. ET] Electronic signals from Sunderland's boat indicate it is drifting at just 1 mph, which means it still is afloat but not under sail, said Jeff Casher, an engineer on her support team.
The mast might have fallen or Sunderland could have been injured,
preventing her from sailing, he said.
[Updated at 4:20 p.m. ET] Abby Sunderland's family is scrambling to persuade any government with an aircraft in the area to help find the 16-year-old sailor, family spokesman Christian Pinkston told CNN.
The California teen's 40-foot boat was in the Indian Ocean, about 2,000 miles east of Madagascar and 2,000 miles west of Australia, when distress signals started coming from the boat Thursday morning California time, Pinkston said. No one has been able to contact Sunderland since then.
Sunderland began her journey from Marina del Rey, California, on January 23 with the goal of sailing her 40-foot boat around the world solo and without stopping. Mechanical troubles forced her to make two stops for repairs, including in Cape Town, South Africa, in early May.
Sunderland's family was told at about 5 a.m. PT about the distress signals. The family had spoken to her just one hour earlier, and although she was in rough seas, she was not in distress at that time, according to Pinkston.
The closest boat - a private fishing vessel - is 40 hours away, according to Pinkston.
The distress signals came from two manually activated distress beacons, Sunderland's family said on her blog Thursday afternoon. When they were talking with her Thursday morning, she told them she had just had a rough sailing day, with winds of up to 60 knots and seas of up to 25 feet, though the winds had subsided to about 35 knots, according to the blog.
"We are actively seeking out some sort of air rescue but this is difficult due to the remoteness of her location," the family's blog post said. "Australian Search and Rescue have arranged to have a [Qantas] Airbus fly over her location at first light (she is 11 hours later). They will not be able to help her other than to talk via marine radio if they are able to get close enough. Hopefully, they will be able to assess her situation and report back to us."
The post also said Abby "has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this."
"She has a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies," the family's post said. "If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon as possible."
The Australian coast guard and the Reunion Island government - a French island that is the closest land to her last position - are involved in efforts to help Sunderland, according to Peter Thomas, a freelance journalist who spoke to Sunderland's father Thursday.
[Posted at 2:09 p.m. ET] A teenage girl attempting to sail solo around the world has gone missing after sending out distress signals in the Indian Ocean, according to a CNN affiliate in her hometown.
Abby Sunderland, 16, of Thousand Oaks, California, has not been heard from since losing contact with her family during a storm Thursday, her brother told CNN affiliate KTLA in Los Angeles.
Sunderland activated her emergency beacon locating devices an hour after losing contact with her family, and a rescue effort is under way. The nearest boat is believed to be at least 40 hours away, according to KTLA.
Sunderland celebrated passing the halfway point Monday on her quest to circumnavigate the globe alone in a sailboat, according to her website. She initially planned to be the youngest to make the trip nonstop, but that was undone in early May when she stopped for repairs in South Africa.
"I've been in some rough weather for awhile with winds steady at 40-45 knots with higher gusts," she wrote Wednesday on her blog. It took her two hours to repair a torn sail in the wind and high waves, and her internet connection on board her 40-foot boat, Wild Eyes, was failing, she wrote.
CNN's Alan Duke, Allison Blakely and Irving Last contributed to this report.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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If taking sides on this issue, i'm on the side of Reality and my Faith is strong, to many people in this world only see
what's in front of them and have no clue as to what's Realistic and what's not. Everything i know that I'll be doing,
i'll try to determine the outcome of my actions or what can happen, so i don't put myself in a position i don't want to
be in. I do this in my Business and my Recreation. I also will never put my family & friend's in a position i wouldn't want
to be in personally. This is what this family failed to do, they could have taken a piece of paper and drawn a line
down the middle, and started listing the Pros & Con's.. i can tell you they did not list all the Con's they most likely knew about. I don't call sailing around in a protected Harbor or Back Bay somewhere for 3 or 4 years in a Dingy Realistic
experience to sail around the World. People's attention span is very short, only a very small handfull of people will
remember what she did, if she completed this, to me that's not the price i want to pay. Now everybody will bash me
and say... well she knew the risk's, i say you shouldn't have taken them.
Can we get past whether or not her parents were stupid to let her do this, and move on to encouragement and prayers (if you are so inclined) for her rescue? It's kind of late to say she shouldn't be there. She IS there, so let's focus on the problem at hand, not point fingers.
Praying for Abby's safety, from Texas.
I am sure those of us writing here are terrified for her Sarah, and wish her well. But it's human to talk about how bad things could be prevented–like hearing of a car accident and wondering if the victims wore seat belts.
Her parents left her do this. There was a ton of controversy about whether she should go or not and in the end, they left her go. So, sorry but I don't really feel sorry here. I hope that she is safe and I hope she is found, but I really do not feel empathy. They knew the risk and took the chance here.
regardless of opinions, there is one thing known to be fact: if this girl is alive, she is alone and scared to death. just stop. have some empathy. not SYMPATHY. i know that one is difficult for alot of you. i'm talking about EMPATHY. we all can muster some. now breathe. relax.
well, sounds like she is in the vicinity of Diego Garcia, in B.I.O.T. her family might want to get ahold of the Us forces out there....
GET OVER IT. You're all so sensitive "this poor child" blah blah. Welcome to the real world. people die. people get hurt. It happens. Old people, Young people, infants. EVERYONE. You would've never made it long in the Dark Ages. You're all such pathetic sniveling wenches. A good, happy safe life, isnt for everyone! You can stay in your homes with your middle class jobs and watch and wait for the government to take care of you and let schools and television teach your children. Theres more to life then just living and growing old and dying. Thats no life. Take risks! Be dangerous! This girl is awesome. I hope she makes it home safe, then gets back in that boat, and tries it again!
To everyone that has commented about how stupid the parents are and how you would never let your daughter/son do such a thing at a young age..... Thank god I am not your child, I would shoot myself!! I also feel sorry for any children that you may have... They probably will never have any goals or ambitions in life.. Their self confidence is probably out the window as well. I am also pretty sure a majority will probably end up living with Mom and Dad well into their 30's because they are afraid of the world outside.
Say what you will.... This girl and her parents knew the risk, and still agreed to let her do what motivated her! This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for her, and I applaud the parents for letting her pursue her dreams and ambitions! I will keep this girl in my thoughts and hope she is found safe and sound and the family can be re-united again.
First I truly hope she is safe and can be rescued. Second, on behalf of the Tea Party, let us pray the family has private rescue insurance. Otherwise, picking her up without payment would be Socialism.
I'm quite sure this will upset alot of you, but why do white people allow their kids to just do anything? I mean really... you would not see any black parent allow their sixteen year old girl to go into the ocean alone.Yes black people do stupid things also and our kids get into trouble, but allow our chldren to just run us, is not typical. This whole thing, It's just plain retarded and downright stupid. Just because the girl has a dream? We all have dreams, but that doesn't mean that a so called parent should allow the CHILD to put themself at risk of death. This is a child we are talking about here, not capable of understanding certain consequences and actions, these parents should be held accountable, and why in the world wasn't this kid in school? If she left in January that is still when she should have been in school, not in the ocean. Lord help us. How stupid can these parents be.
toast
The parents should be locked up for recklessly endangering their child. Just because your child wants to do something, doesn't mean they should. They don't always know what's best for them and don't always understand all the risks involved (at that age, you believe you're invincible). It's up to the parents to be the level headed ones and say no.
Sailing around the world solo is dangerous enough for an adult, but a 16 year old girl? They wanted bragging rights for being the youngest to do it solo, but what do they have now? Dumbest parents award.
i hope they find this young lady. i've got a 15 year old daughter who is the absolute light of my life, so i'm sure the family is in very deep distress.
having said that; does anyone want to talk about how ridiculously negligent it is to send a 16 year girl (boy would be just as bad, don't get them in a bunch) off on some world wide sailing excursion?
there is NO WAY that i would even consider doing that to my daughter.
i know hindsight is 20/20, but this is aBSuRd!!
Even though my heart breaks for these parents, it is obvious they NEGLECTED RULE #1 that any babysitter knows–Match the RISK against the AGE! A SOLO SAIL around the world for a 16-YEAR OLD is like a SOLO DRIVE on the Interstate for a 6-YEAR-OLD. How many "Please, Mommy, I'll be the first one!" would it take for you to hand the keys to your first grader?
Right robert I agree with you. 16 is not a mature enough age to allow this. Parents need to be held liable for what happens to her. You are just able to drive at 16 with adult supervison so sailing a boat when you have no idea what the weather is like is insane.
My parents had me in SCHOOL at 16. It takes 7 months to sail around the world. Who bought her this boat? Loser parents.......:(