A 27ft yacht had to be rescued last week after it ran aground near Blackpool and began sinking
Four crew on board a 27ft yacht were
involved in a dramatic rescue last Tuesday after their vessel ran aground and
began sinking near Blackpool.
The boat was approaching the entrance of
Ribble Estuary when the skipper heard what was described as a “loud bang”.
The vessel quickly began taking on water
and immediately started to sink.
Despite attempts by the crew to use a pump,
they were unable to stop the water water level from rising and contacted the
coastguard for help.
The crew continued slowly upriver in hope
of reaching safety before the yacht foundered completely.
On arrival at the scene, Lytham St Annes
RNLI found that the yacht was rapidly filling with water and quickly passed a
powerful salvage pump on board to stop the water level rising.
Coxswain Martin Jaggs, said: “When we got
alongside the yacht there was around 3.5ft of water inside her.
Without our pumps she would have sunk leaving her crew of four in the water.”
After waiting for the tide to rise, the
sinking yacht was towed to the Douglas Boatyard where staff prepared a cradle
to lift the vessel out of the water and on to Hesketh Bank.
None of the crew were harmed during the
incident and the lifeboat was able to return to its station just after midnight.
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