Yachtsman Adrift for Month Rescued

A Japanese yachtsman who clung to a life raft for nearly a month after his yacht capsized during a race in the Pacific survived to be rescued by a British freighter, Japanese coast guard officials said today.

But five other Japanese from the ill-fated Taka died one by one in the bitter cold as they drifted together in the wintry western Pacific, the lone survivor, Miharu Sano, said.

The Maritime Safety Agency said Sano, 31, was picked up Saturday by the Maersk Cypress about 144 miles southeast of Chichijima, one of the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands.

Sano told agency officials that six of the Taka’s seven crew members had reached the raft after the 7.7-ton yacht capsized Dec. 29. The fate of the seventh crewman, who remained aboard the yacht, is not known.

The Taka was sailing from Miura, south of Tokyo, Dec. 26 in a 1,560-mile yacht race from Japan to Guam.