A 16-year-old Californian girl attempting to sail solo around the world is safe and well, her parents said, after a massive search and rescue operation was launched in the Indian Ocean when she triggered distress signals.

Abby Sunderland was last heard from about 6 a.m. Pacific time Thursday, when she broke off a satellite phone call as her yacht Wild Eyes was pounded by huge waves in the remote southern Indian Ocean. She had reported 30-foot swells but was not in distress at that time.

The search for Sunderland involved Australia, U.S. and French rescue authorities sending ships and a commercial airliner to an area about 2,000 miles southeast of Madagascar and 2,000 miles southwest of Australia.

"We have just heard from the Australian Search and Rescue. The plane arrived on the scene moments ago. Wild Eyes is upright but her rigging is down. The weather conditions are abating. Radio communication was made and Abby reports that she is fine!" her parents Laurence and Mariane posted on her blog.

"We don't know much else right now. The French fishing vessel that was diverted to her location will be there in a little over 24 hours. Where they will take her or how long it will take we don't know," they said.

William Bennett with "Team Abby," speaking outside the family's Thousand Oaks home, said the mast had broken off the boat.

Laurence Sunderland earlier lost contact with his daughter during a satellite phone call and believed her boat may have rolled in treacherous conditions.

Beacons
Her two emergency beacons transmitting signals are attached to the boat and Sunderland's survival suit, and are activated manually by the sailor.

Laurence Sunderland had said his daughter had all of the safety equipment she needed, including a cold water survival suit, life raft and bag with emergency supplies.

“She’s got all the skills she needs to take care of what she has to take care of, she has all the equipment as well,” her brother Zac, himself a veteran of a solo sail around the world at age 17, said before she was found.

The area is one of the most difficult parts of the world to launch rescue operations. British solo sailor Tony Bullimore had to be rescued by an Australian navy frigate in 1996 after his yacht capsized during a race in which another competitor died.

During a blog entry written on Wednesday, Sunderland, who began her trip in January, described sailing her boat through several days of rough weather, which apparently damaged a sail.

She said she was able to patch the sail, but added: "It wasn't the most fun job I've had out here. Wild Eyes was rolling around like crazy."

'Foolhardy'
Veteran Australian sailor Ian Kiernan, who held the Australian record for solo circ**navigation of the world, said Sunderland's trip was badly planned, given the mountainous seas and huge wind strengths of winter in the area.

"I don't know what she's doing in the Southern Ocean as a 16-year-old in the middle of winter. It's foolhardy," Kiernan said.

Sunderland had hoped to become the youngest sailor to circ**navigate the globe alone nonstop but had to give up her chance at that record when she was forced to pull into a port at Cape Town, South Africa, for repairs to her boat.

Her parents have been criticized by some in the media for allowing her to undertake the solo voyage at 16.

Sailing experts have said that she was ill-advised to leave California in January, because she risked arriving in the Indian Ocean at the start of the winter season.

In a post on her blog, her family wrote she had battled 60-knot winds and 20-to-25-foot seas before going missing and had been "knocked down" several times — a reference to the boat tipping until the sails touch water.

Abby left Cape Town, South Africa, on May 21 and on Monday reached the halfway point of her voyage.

On Wednesday, she wrote in her log that it had been a rough few days with huge seas that had her boat “rolling around like crazy.”

“I’ve been in some rough weather for awhile with winds steady at 40-45 knots with higher gusts,” she wrote. “With that front passing, the conditions were lighter today. It was a nice day today with some lighter winds which gave me a chance to patch everything up. Wild Eyes was great through everything but after a day with over 50 knots at times, I had quite a bit of work to do.”

Information on her web site said that as of June 8 she had completed a 2,100-mile leg from South Africa to north of the Kerguelen Islands, taking a route to avoid an ice hazard area. Ahead of her lay more than 2,100 miles of ocean on a 10- to 16-day leg to a point south of Cape Leeuwin on the southwest tip of Australia.

On May 15, Australian 16-year-old Jessica Watson claimed the record Abby had been trying to break after completing a 23,000-mile circ**navigation in 210 days. Jessica and her family had sent a private message of hope to Abby’s family, spokesman Andrew Fraser said. “We are hoping she’s OK and are trying to stay positive,” he said.

Last year a Netherlands court concerned about safety blocked a 13-year-old girl’s plan to sail around the world, sparking debate on the role of authorities and parents when children want to undertake risky adventures.

Last month, 13-year-old Jordan Romero of Big Bear, Calif., became the youngest person to scale 29,035-foot Mount Everest. But in 1996, 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, her father and a flight instructor were killed in a crash in Cheyenne, Wyo., during her attempt to become the youngest person to fly across the country.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37621453/ns/us_news/