A 60-year-old Belfast adventurer, who was attempting to become the oldest woman to row solo across the Atlantic, has been safely rescued after her boat began taking in water.
Shirley Thompson was on Day 11 of her voyage and managed 1,000 miles of her 3,000-mile planned trip before being forced to call for help.
A former air stewardess, Ms Thompson is an experienced endurance runner and spent 14 years organising gruelling jungle marathons - but had only learned to swim recently.
Tracy Rohan, a member of her support team, posted online yesterday that she was "safe and on board a helicopter bound for Tenerife".
She had said that Ms Thompson's boat had been hit by an unknown object, possibly a whale, and started taking in water.
"The boat was filling up too rapidly and Shirley called for rescue a short while ago," she said.
Ms Thompson had planned to cover 3,000 nautical miles from Gran Canaria to St Barts in the Caribbean.
