U.S. Navy Warship Rescues Sick Baby From A Boat 900 Miles Out To Sea

A US navy warship on a mission to rescue a sick one-year-old girl has reached her family's stricken sailing boat hundreds of miles off the Mexican coast.

The transfer of the child from the 11-metre (36ft) boat to the warship is expected to start around dawn, said the Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Barry Bena on Sunday.

"Sometime this morning as soon as they get some light they are going to take the child off the boat and bring her aboard the naval vessel," Bena said.

A small boat will be used to carry out the operation and it will be safer during daylight, especially since the child's condition has stabilised, the spokesman said.

The girl's family - her parents and a three-year-old sister - were about 900 miles off Mexico on a trip around the world when they sent a satellite ping for help to the US Coast Guard on Thursday about her illness.

A family member said the Rebel Heart was owned by a San Diego couple, Charlotte and Eric Kaufman, whose daughter Lyra had developed a fever and a rash covering most of her body and was not responding to medication.

The California Air National Guard dispatched four rescuers, who parachuted into the water and reached the disabled vessel. The team was able to stabilise the girl and pointed the sailboat, which does not have steering or communication abilities, towards Mexico, the 129th Rescue Wing said in a statement.

The rescuers stayed aboard the Rebel Heart and are keeping watch on the ill child until the navy frigate transfers them to shore. The girl still requires medical treatment, and the rescuers planned to stay with her until she reaches a hospital, the statement said.

USS Vandegrift churned through the Pacific at nearly 30mph to reach the stricken boat, officials said. Bena said he was not sure if it had arrived late on Saturday or early on Sunday.

The Kaufmans were two weeks into a journey bound for the South Pacific islands and eventually New Zealand.

Before the family left, Lyra had salmonella poisoning, but doctors cleared her to travel after she recovered, said Charlotte Kaufman's sister, Sariah Kay English.

English was initially in daily email contact with the family but realised something was wrong when the communication stopped several days ago.

English said she was told the vessel took on water every time the motor was turned on. It was now slowly moving using only the sails.

When her sister first mentioned plans to sail with two young children, English recalled, "I thought it was nuts".

But English said the couple were always careful. Eric Kaufman is a Coast Guard-licensed captain who introduced sailing to Charlotte Kaufman during one of their early dates.

"They were not going into this blind. I knew they were doing this wisely," English said.

She said the couple made a network of friends who travelled around the globe with children, and always stocked the sailboat with more food than they needed.

"They were very overcautious. They are not new at sailing," English said. Unfortunately, "sickness sometimes happens".

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk.