The British woman had been reported missing after failing to return a motorboat she had hired. She was spotted adrift four days later by a ferry heading from mainland Spain to Ibiza
A British woman who went missing after a hiring a boat in the Balearic Islands has been found alive after four days.
The 39-year-old woman, named locally as Mary Gavin, was at the centre of a massive search operation off the island of Formentera, after she failed to return a 15ft motor boat, she had hired from a firm at La Savina port.
She had been due to return the boat the same the next day, but the alarm was raised when she failed to show. It has now been revealed that she was spotted drifting on the boat, by a ferry crossing from Valencia on mainland Spain and the Balearic island of Ibiza.
The rescue is said to have occurred around 5pm on Saturday, four days after she was declared missing.
A Civil Guard spokesman said: “The British woman who vanished after hiring a boat in Formentera on Tuesday morning has been found alive.”
She is understood to have been transferred to hospital in Valencia to receive medical attention. Her condition was not immediately clear.
The vessel, a cream-coloured Quicksilver 475 Axess with a Mercury outboard motor, has been towed to Ibiza by coastguards.
Police divers had been incorporated into the search for her on Thursday after Civil Guard and Spanish coastguards helicopters and boats were mobilised.
The police force had said on Friday in its first official comments about the disappearance: “The missing woman is a 39-year-old British national who hired the boat in the port of La Salina in Formentera on Tuesday morning.
“She was supposed to return it around 6pm on Wednesday and when she didn’t her friends became worried and raised the alarm. From the time she was reported missing on Wednesday evening a search operation was launched which continued throughout the day yesterday.
“She hasn’t been found yet nor has the boat she was on. The Civil Guard’s Judicial Police unit has been investigating this woman’s disappearance but two vessels belonging to our Maritime Unit were mobilised yesterday along with one from the specialist sub-aquatic GEAS unit.
“The officers from the Maritime Unit conduct the searches from speedboats and the GEAS are essentially diving specialists.”
A police source said last week the missing woman had been living on one of the Balearic islands for around two months, although it was not immediately clear if she had been staying on Ibiza or Formentera.
A Spanish Coastguard spokeswoman said they had received an alert about the missing Brit and had immediately mobilised a helicopter and boat to assist in the search.
Police have not yet said exactly where the woman was when she was rescued or explain how she managed to go so badly adrift.
