Woman, child and pets rescued from sailboat after being stranded 925 miles off Honolulu during Hurricane Gilma

A woman sent a distress alert to officials on Saturday from a sailboat that was 925 miles off the coast of Honolulu. On board with her was her daughter, their pets and a deceased man.

As Hurricane Gilma raged in the Pacific, the Coast Guard in Hawaii received a distress call from a sailboat left stranded by the storm. The boat was 925 miles east of Honolulu, and the rescue mission took several days, with the help of the Coast Guard and the US Navy. When rescuers arrived, they found a woman, her daughter, their pets and a dead man authorities said was the vessel’s master. Officials at the Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu received a distress alert from the sailboat around 12:33 p.m. local time on Saturday, according to a news release from the Coast Guard. An airplane crew was able to locate the French-flagged vessel Albroc and heard a mayday call from the woman on board. The mother and daughter are both French, according to a Coast Guard spokesperson. The woman, 47, said she and her daughter, 7, a cat and a tortoise needed to be rescued after the weather caused them to become stranded.