Sailor and cat rescued after seven months stranded in Indian Ocean

A Polish sailor was rescued from the Indian Ocean on Christmas Day after spending seven months with only his cat Samira for company in a broken-down boat.

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The French coast guard rescued 54-year-old Zbigniew Reket and said he survived for months on half a packet of Chinese soup per day.

Investigators are seeking to piece together the itinerary of the man who says he took to the sea in his makeshift vessel from the Comoros Islands off the coast of Mozambique in May with the aim of reaching South Africa.

"We drifted towards the Somali coast, then towards the Maldives, and then Indonesia again," he told The Local.

"Several times I could see land but I could never steer towards it. I spotted several ships but the battery on my radio was dead," he said.

Then on Christmas Day, a sailing boat spotted him off Reunion Island and alerted the coastguard, which sent a boat out to rescue him.

Reket says he is thinking of staying in Reunion.