Cargo ship rescues man off WA coast

A Chinese cargo ship has rescued one sailor from a life raft, after he abandoned his 13-metre yacht off Western Australia's Mid West coast.

An Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokesman said the 225-metre Shi Dai 8 had successfully rescued the man after he abandoned his yacht when it began taking on water, north of Geraldton early on Friday morning.

A private aircraft sighted the raft and a flare 277 kilometres north of Geraldton after being dispatched by AMSA, which received an emergency beacon signal at 7.45am.

The AMSA spokesman said the bulk carrier moved to recover the life raft with a rescue aircraft monitoring overhead.

"The local aircraft arrived first and reported sighting a life raft and a flare and diverted two merchant ships to the area," he said.

The man is believed to be uninjured.