The 16-year-old American girl who was trying to sail solo around the world has been found safe in the Indian Ocean.

An Australian chartered passenger jet spotted Abby Sunderland after 6am GMT on Friday. It was searching seas roughly half way from Perth to Africa.

A post from her parents on her official website says that her boat was found upright but the rigging is down.

The search for Sunderland started after she activated a search beacon on her 40 ft rig at almost 1pm GMT on Thursday.

Before she left for her journey, Sunderland’s trip received some criticism because she would cross the Indian Ocean in the middle of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.