16 hrs. under his boat

A 62-year-old French sailor survived for 16 hours in the Atlantic Ocean after his boat capsized — by using an air bubble inside the overturned vessel.

The seaman was eventually rescued from the rough waters by Spanish coast guard divers in what they described as an operation “verging on the impossible.”

The 40-foot boat, called the Jeanne SOLO Sailor, sent out a distress signal at 11:23 p.m. local time on Monday 14 miles from the Sisargas Islands off Spain’s northwestern Galicia region, the coast guard said. Tracking data show it had set sail from the Portuguese capital of Lisbon on Sunday morning.

A rescue helicopter tracked down the capsized boat at sunset. A diver was hoisted onto the ship’s hull to seek signs of life and the unidentified sailor inside responded by knocking from inside.

With the sea too rough to attempt a rescue, they attached buoyancy balloons to the ship’s hull to prevent it from sinking and waited until morning, with the Frenchman still trapped underneath.

Two divers swam under the boat and found the sailor wearing a neoprene survival suit and submerged in water up to his knees. He was eventually airlifted to safety.