Cape Town surfer, Brett Archibald, was rescued after floating in the Indonesian ocean for 27 hours. Archibald reportedly fell from a boat in the early hours of Wednesday morning and was rescued by a Sydney-owned private charter boat.

The 50 year-old was on a surfing trip in the Mentawai Islands on the western coast of Sumatra. Archibald’s friend reported that while everybody was sleeping, he had possibly fallen overboard while being ill, as he had been suffering from severe sea sickness.

The search-and-rescue operation was huge. The Indonesian Maritime Rescue Authorities, the Australian Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Jakarta Maritime Rescue Co-ordination centre and a slew of other private boats combined efforts to find Archibald.

The Sydney-owned private boat, Barrenjoey, owned by Australian couple John and Belkinda McGroder, found Archibald floating in the ocean approximately 20km from where he was reported to have fallen overboard.

All Aboard Travel’s Facebook page posted:

He is alive. A bit sunburnt and dehydrated. He was floating alone. The boat is taking him to the Indies Trader III so that he can phone his wife.

[Source: IOL News]