An Indian Navy aircraft has located the vessel of Indian Naval officer Abhilash Tomy, who was badly injured while participating in the Golden Globe Race, "rolling excessively" in the South Indian Ocean, a Defence spokesman said Sunday.
Tomy had suffered a back injury Friday after his yacht was hit by a vicious storm with 14-metre-high waves mid-way across south Indian Ocean.
The Indian Navy's P8I aircraft, which flew from Mauritius in the early hours Sunday, has located the "mast broken boat rolling excessively", he said.
"Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB as the aircraft was flying over him," the spokesman said here.
Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) is a device which alerts rescue services in case of an accident at sea.
He said heavy rains have been reported from the area.
The aircraft would fly back after three to four hours and Tomy can only be rescued by naval ships, he said.
Tomy had Sunday managed to get in touch with race organisers in France through messages and had requested for a stretcher as he could not move on his own. He was representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously-built sailing vessel 'S V Thuraya'.
Tomy, who became the first Indian to have circumnavigated the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe.
His vessel is in the south Indian Ocean, about 1,900 nautical miles from Perth in Australia
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