CORAL SEA (CNN) -- Downed U.S. balloonist Steve Fossett was safe after being rescued by an Australia yachtsman on Monday from a life raft drifting in the South Pacific, an Australian rescue official said.

Fossett was picked up shortly before 1130 GMT (7:30 a.m. EDT), according to Australian Search and Rescue officer Arthur Heather in Canberra. Asked about Fossett's health, Heather said: "Good, apparently there are no problems."

Yachtsman Laurie Piper spotted Fossett huddled in his life raft after sailing his 18-meter (60-foot) ketch Atlanta into treacherous reefs off the Coral Sea northeast of Australia.

Fossett's helium aircraft fell into the area early on Monday after being hit by a thunderstorm, ending his fourth attempt at circling the world nonstop in a balloon.

When Fossett went down, he had gone 63 percent of the way around the globe, traveling 24,466 kilometers or 15,202 miles, his controllers said.

Heather said Fossett would be transferred to the New Zealand naval ship Endeavour but added: "That might be tomorrow (Tuesday). I don't think they'll risk it tonight."

Before the rescue, Fossett told an Australian television reporter Darren Curtis via radio that he had plunged almost 9,000 meters (29,000 feet) into the Coral Sea south of the Solomon Islands, but was uninjured.

An audio tape of Curtis' report was played for reporters at Fossett's mission control in St. Louis, Missouri. Here is an excerpt:

"He (Fossett) says he was caught in a giant thunderstorm, hail, and lightning. It ruptured his balloon. He fell 29,000 feet into the ocean. He says when he did hit the ocean that his balloon capsule actually caught fire, and he had to evacuate the life raft. He's well, the Royal Australian Air Force has dropped him some food and water and a new radio. And he's saying when he does get ashore, that the first thing he'll do is smell the roses."

A French military plane dropped a life raft to Fossett at about 8.40 a.m. Monday (2240 GMT Sunday, 6:40 p.m. EDT Sunday), after reaching the site near the Chesterfield Islands, about 500 miles (800 km) off Australia's east coast, the French Navy in Noumea, New Caledonia, said.

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