Chilean Navy Rescues Ailing French Rower

The Chilean Navy picked up French rower Jo Le Guen from a British container ship after he abandoned his bid to cross the southern Pacific Ocean because of illness, the navy said.

Jaime Bravo, Naval Commander in Punta Arenas, the world's most southerly city, said the rower was under 24-hour observation in a Punta Arenas hospital.

A high-speed boat collected Le Guen from the container ship Palliser Bay, which had picked him up on April 10 after being rerouted to deliver medicine to him. The ship's crew found him gravely ill and raised the alarm.

Le Guen was trying to make a solo crossing from New Zealand to Cape Horn in a bid to draw attention to ocean pollution. He contracted blood poisoning after sustaining foot wounds several weeks ago.