A FORMER Oxford teacher has abandoned her attempt to row across the Pacific Ocean after being struck by a tropical storm.

Sarah Outen, who is attempting to row from Japan to the United States, made mayday distress calls early this morning and is waiting for the Japanese coastguard to pick her up, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.

Oxford graduate Ms Outen, 26, sent a distress signal at 2.04am this morning from her boat Gulliver after it was caught in tropical storm Mawar.

In 2008, she taught at St Edward’s School, in North Oxford, and is a graduate of Oxford University’s St Hugh’s College with a degree in biology.

She is already a Guinness world record-holder for her 2009 solo row across the Indian Ocean, the first woman and youngest person ever to do so.

British rower Charlie Martell, who is separately attempting to row the Pacific, is also awaiting rescue.