<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">A 62-year-old French man survived for 16 hours at sea by using an air bubble inside his boat after it capsized.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The 12-metre vessel, which had set sail from Portugal's capital Lisbon, sent out a distress signal late on Monday evening from the Atlantic Ocean.</div><div><br></div><div>Spanish coastguards found the upturned boat, but the sea was too rough to rescue him - so the sailor had to wait until morning.</div><div><br></div><div>The man's survival was "verging on the impossible", said coastguard divers.</div><div><br></div><div>His boat sent a distress signal at 20:23 local time on Monday, 14 miles (22.5 km) from the Sisargas Islands, near Spain's north-west Galicia region.</div><div><br></div><div>A rescue ship carrying five divers as well as three helicopters set off to find and rescue the man, who has not yet been named.</div><div><br></div><div>A diver was winched onto the ship's hull to seek signs of life and the man responded by banging from inside.</div><div><br></div><div>The sea was rough and the sun had gone down, so the rescue team attached buoyancy balloons to the boat to stop it from sinking and waited until morning.</div><div><br></div><div>The next day, two divers swam under the boat to help the sailor out, who they found wearing a neoprene survival suit and submerged in water up to his knees.</div><div><br></div><div>The man then jumped into freezing water and swam under the boat towards the sea's surface.</div><div><br></div><div>In a tweet, Spain's Maritime Safety and Rescue Society said: "Each life saved is our biggest reward."</div><div><br></div><div>Vicente Cobelo, a member of the coastguard's special operations team, said the sailor got into the water "of his own initiative" .</div><div><br></div><div>But, Mr Cobelo added, divers helped pull the sailor out, as it was difficult for him to get out of his suit.</div><div><br></div><div>He was airlifted by the rescue team and briefly taken to hospital for checks. -BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/TR</div>