British woman found alive after surviving four days floating in the Mediterranean

She was picked up by a ferry crossing the ocean

A major search and rescue operation had been underway since Wednesday evening when the 39-year-old did not return the 15-foot motorboat she had rented at Formentera’s La Savina port.

Friends, concerned by her absence, alerted authorities after the woman, who lives on the Balearic Islands, failed to return from her excursion.

The woman was found adrift at around 5pm yesterday (22 June) in the Mediterranean by a ferry travelling between Ibiza and Valencia.

She is reported to have since been transferred to a hospital in Valencia.

Her condition was not immediately clear this morning (23 June).

No statement has been released by the Civil Guard yet, although they have confirmed she has been found alive.

The boat she had rented, a Quicksilver 475 Axess with a Mercury outboard motor, has been towed to Ibiza by the coastguard.

The missing woman had been named locally as Mary Gavin after it emerged she was missing.

Police divers, Civil Guard and Spanish coastguard helicopters and boats were all mobilised in her search.

Speaking this morning, a Civil Guard spokesman said: "The British woman who vanished after hiring a boat in Formentera on Tuesday morning has been found alive."

The police force had said on Friday: "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."

Feature image 1: Guardia Civil