MOB spent 30 minutes in the sea after the accident
A man fell overboard a 2,125 tonne trawler on Saturday night and spent half an hour in the water before being rescued.
The vessel was 17 miles south of Sovereign Harbour, near Eastbourne, when the crew made their Mayday distress call.
Watch a video of the night rescue.
Eastbourne’s all-weather lifeboat was launched but the vessel was so far out to sea that it took an hour for the crew to arrive onscene. Fortunately the man was wearing a life jacket and had been recovered after half an hour in the water.
Volunteer lifeboat crewmen Dr Stephen Lytton and paramedic Guy Emery were put aboard the trawler Scrombus to assess the man, who was suffering from cold and shock.
The man’s ankle was injured which meant he couldn’t be transferred to the lifeboat.
Instead, he was airlifted to hospital by the Coastguard rescue helicopter, which arrived on scene around the same time as the lifeboat.
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