Two Britons set Indian Ocean rowing record

London - Two young British men, James Adair and Ben Stenning, have set a record after rowing 3,200 nautical miles, unsupported, across the Indian Ocean from Australia to Mauritius.

They narrowly escaped death when their specially designed 23-foot ocean rowing boat capsized in a massive wave on Sunday.

"It was a wall of water," the BBC quoted James Adair, 30-year-old Londoner, as saying.

"It just seemed to black out the sky. We knew we were going to get rolled. When it hit us it was a turmoil of white water. Our oars were gone, we were thrown overboard, everything was ripped apart. We just thought we were going to die," he added.

With their boat capsized, their equipment smashed or washed overboard and their antenna broken, the pair chose to swim for it but strong currents made it difficult for them to reach the shore.

Later, a flotilla of local Mauritians set out in boats and rescued the pair.

The race organizer Simon Chalk said that it is the first time a pair has rowed across the Indian Ocean without a support boat and they are the third men in history to complete the distance.

They successfully crossed the Indian Ocean with almost no training and no support team, taking it in turns to row three hours on, three hours off, day and night.