A 16-year-old Californian girl attempting to sail solo around the world has been found alive and well following a desperate overnight search in a remote part of the Indian Ocean, her parents said today.

Rescuers contacted Abby Sunderland after she set off two emergency satellite beacons on her 40ft yacht, Wild Eyes.

Laurence Sunderland said rescuers on board a chartered Australian airline made contact with her earlier today and that she was alive.

"She's fine, the boat's afloat and she's on it," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "It's huge, fantastic, exciting news."

Abbey's parents lost satellite phone contact with her after she had told them she had been repeatedly knocked down in 60-knot winds and 50-foot waves, about 2,000 miles east of Madagascar.

One of the beacons was believed to have been attached to a survival suit and was designed to be set off by a person in the water or on a life raft. Both beacons were manually activated. Rescuers had been seeking to contact the nearest ship, 400 miles away.

Sunderland's parents, Laurence and Marianne, posted a message on their daughter's blog saying rescuers would reach her in a day.

"Wild Eyes is upright but her rigging is down. The weather conditions are abating. Radio communication was made and Abby reports that she is fine!.

"The French fishing vessel that was diverted to her location will be there in a little over 24 hours. Where they will take her or how long it will take we don't know," they said.

Before she went missing they had posted that she was having difficulties, but appeared to be coping.

"We were helping her troubleshoot her engine that she was trying to start to charge her systems. Satellite phone reception was patchy. She was able to get the water out of the engine and start up. We were waiting to hear back from her when American search and rescue authorities called to report having received a signal from her emergency beacon," they said. "We are working closely with American, French and Australian search and rescue authorities to coordinate several ships in the area to divert to her location."

In the latest posting to her blog on Wednesday, Sunderland described enduring "a rough few days". "I've been in some rough weather for a while, with winds steady at 40-45 knots, with higher gusts," she said. She said the weather had improved, but she needed to do some repair work on the sail before it was expected to worsen again.

"I managed to take it down, take care of the tear and get it back up in a couple of hours. It wasn't the most fun job I have done out here. With the seas still huge, Wild Eyes was rolling around like crazy," she wrote.

Sunderland, who set sail in January and passed the half way mark on Monday, had said it was her "dream" to sail around the world single-handed. She had to abandon her original goal of circumnavigating the globe nonstop when she was forced to make a stop in South Africa in April after her autopilot failed.

Before she set off, there were questions among some in the sailing world over whether she was too young to make the journey on her own. The timing was also criticised because she was crossing the Indian Ocean during the stormy southern hemisphere winter.

TJ Simers, a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times, called the attempt "child endangerment".

"I just don't understand the idea of risking life. This kid's going to be out there all by herself. Death is a possibility. Bad weather. Are you kidding me? Who's responsible for this? She's a kid," he wrote.

She dismissed the concerns, but said she was aware of the dangers. "I am definitely nervous," she told ABC before her journey. "But I understand [the] ocean and I understand how dangerous what I am doing is, and I understand how careful I need to be out there."

A young Australian, Jessica Watson, completed a solo around the world journey last month, shortly before her 17th birthday. Sunderland's brother, Zac, sailed around the world alone last year, at 17.

Extracts from Abby Sunderland's blog (soloround.blogspot.com), which she kept to document her solo trip around the world

26 January "I wish I could have written sooner, but as most of you know, the first few days out are pretty hard."

18 April "This ocean seems to be taking a while to cross. When you're out here and waiting for something day after day after day, and it takes a lot longer than planned, it's hard. But I'll be out of here eventually and be on to the next ocean!"

27 May "I like going up the mast and I like heavy wind, but going up the mast when it is pitch black, when it's gusting well over 30 knots and wave after wave is breaking over the whole boat, well, that's just a bit much."

7 June Abby writes: "I am ticking off the miles slowly but surely. The weather looks like it could pick up a lot in the next few days. I could have winds up to 60 knots, so I'm getting things all tied down and ready for some big winds."

10 June Abby's parents wrote: "Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis like this. She has a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies. If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon as possible."