After 20 Days Adrift, 7 Rescued

Aircraft from the USS Nimitz helped rescue seven seamen who had survived for 20 days adrift in the Arabian Sea without food, the U.S. Navy said Sunday.

A statement from the Bahrain-based U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said the men are “reported to be in good health.”

Their nationalities were not known, but the Navy said their 35-foot sailboat Navjevan lost its auxiliary engine two days after it had sailed Dec. 20 from the western Indian port of Cochin, listed by the Navy as its home port.

An A-6E Intruder flying a routine training mission off the aircraft carrier spotted the seamen Thursday adrift about 250 miles southwest of Bombay and about 660 miles from Cochin. Another aircraft directed a vessel in the area to the boat.