By Daily Mail Reporter
A British woman stranded in a storm off the Turkish coast abandoned ship and swam 75 metres to the shore in a bid to save her nine puppies.
Laura Hughes, 28, a strong swimmer, balanced a milk crate containing the animals on her head and managed to save herself and all her puppies despite braving waves reaching five metres high.
Following a terrible mid-afternoon storm last month, Laura's 14 and a half foot boat "Csavargo" had been pushed around the Turkish coast by powerful gale force winds, leaving her close to the Greek island of Rhodes.
'My mum used to say I swam like a rat' Laura, her boating companion John Cochrane, her two dogs Ragga Muffin and Tiger Lily, and the nine pups Ragga Muffin gave birth to while at sea, were all left completely helpless after a rope from the boat's sails got caught in the boat's propeller and caused an engine malfunction.
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Laura, from Bedford, tried desperately to control the steering wheel but the boat was travelling at a speed of 2.3 knots - and there was no way of stopping it.
Laura said: "The gale force winds were rocking the boat from side to side. I felt as if I should have been wearing a harness.
"The boat was filling up with water from waves washing over the side. I felt that if I didn't get off the boat it would either sink or capsize. I had no option but to get off."
After several hours, Laura found the boat stranded in a busy shipping lane three miles off the coast of Rhodes.
Worried that they would crash into another boat, Laura sent out a May Day distress signal over the ship's VHF radio.
After being pushed miles around the coast and fearing her boat would sink or capsize, Laura had no other option but to abandon ship - and swim to the shore with the puppies in tow.
Laura added: "It was when we got into the shipping lane that I really started to become concerned.
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