Lithuanian rower rescued by Australian Navy arrives safely in Sydney

The Lithuanian rower rescued by the Australian navy from stormy seas off Queensland has arrived in Sydney.

Transcript

00:00Arius Motskos spent four days lost at sea before he could see any sign of life and when

00:09he first heard and saw that plane and tools which came and rescued him, he said it was

00:15a moment of such excitement.

00:18The 44-year-old was attempting to row from San Diego to Brisbane when he was caught in

00:22the path of what was then a Category 1 system.

00:26After leaving last September, he was only three days off making it to his final destination.

00:32His wife Sonata said she knew something was wrong when he stopped checking in for their

00:37daily chats.

00:38He missed, when he missed all the connections, we did not have any information.

00:44That's why, yes, we, everyone around, we are worried because it was too long time not getting

00:50the message from him.

00:52What she didn't know was his boat had gone completely offline, but thankfully his emergency

00:57beacon was activated.

00:59He then had the agonising wait before the Australian Navy came to his rescue.

01:05This last three days, what I spent in my boat in this ocean, I think for me it's like new

01:17my life because I must be anytimes, any hours fight for my life because my boat are sinking

01:28and then the old navigation, all stuff's going off.

01:33He did say he wanted to originally finish in Sydney, but this wasn't really the way

01:38he had dreamed it up.

01:40And while Arias' ultimate goal to make it to Brisbane was not fulfilled, he is just

01:45glad to be on dry land and in one piece with his wife.